Tag Archives | cut flowers

New Year Plans

By greenandgorgeous on January 7, 2013 in Achillea, Asters, Cut flowers, dahlias, Floristry, Floristry Courses, Galega, Monarda, Phlox, roses, Sweet Peas, Tanacetum, Weddings

It has been a long time since I wrote
my last blog, I think it was in June when the rain and wind came,
after that I was too busy battling with the elements. It certainly
tested my resolve as a flower grower as I watched countless flowers
rot in the ground or be flattened by the wind.

As we were not able to grow some G&G
favourites new flowers were discovered and took centre stage. Many of
these were from the group that really saved the season – perennials.
These proved to be far more weather resistant than many of the
annuals and because of all the rain grew taller and more prolifically
than normal and those prone to mildew like Asters, Monarda and Phlox
were spared.

The real stars were the perennials sown
from seed in February/March which went on to produce buckets of
flowers from June onwards. They included Achillea, Galega and
Tanacetum which all proved to have good 'cut and come again' value and
a wildflower- look for our natural style bouquets.

Our new field of perennials planted
mostly as bare root in the autumn of 2011 also grew in very well
thanks to all the rain. It was a joy to wander in there one evening
when supplies and spirits were low in the cutting garden to discover
row upon row of new and exciting things to cut.

So the extreme weather meant different
flowers to work with, a new palette with unexpected combinations and
some beautiful results.

After seeing off the most challenging
year for growing cut flowers I am full of plans for 2013, which include adding to our mail order
range and developing a Pick Your Own cutting garden. More news on
that in the coming weeks.

We have also come up with some new
courses:

Jo and I have put our heads together
and developed a two day course for DIY brides on how to grow and
arrange wedding flowers.

I am offering an in depth growing guide
to three of our favourites – sweet peas, roses and dahlias as half
day workshops.

If you would like to find out more have
a look at our Courses page on the website.

Rachel Siegfried

Stretching the Seasons

By greenandgorgeous on October 24, 2012 in Floristry, wreaths

We were pleased to be asked to provide arrangements for two photo shoots this month. The first was for Pretty Nostalgic Magazine, out the beginning of November. The brief was 'an incredibly creative winter wreath using seasonal British ingredients.' I wanted to create a wreath without being too traditional in style. I started with a moss base wrapped around a copper wreath frame. I then added Dusty Miller leaves. I was very tempted to stop there because they looked so much like antlers! The soft velvety texture of them is just fabulous. Next I inserted dried lavender, mainly for scent. All of the berries I have used are easily gathered at this time of the year in the hedgerow. I had already decided to avoid green and red, so used black privet berries, pink spindle and white snowberries. I particularly enjoyed using the bright pink spindle, it seems incredible it is a native bush, as they look almost tropical. My final touches were individually wired damsons, clematis heads, feathers and a vintage brooch. I thought the damson picked up the blue in the peacock feathers and the clematis heads reflected their texture. The feathers and brooch added some Victorian elegance. Here it is:

The second shoot was more challenging. It was for Wedding Flowers magazine. We have wanted to feature in it for some time as it is the only wedding magazine dedicated to flowers. Although we were excited to be included and offered two full pages, we would have loved the shoot to have been in peak season when we could really showcase our flowers. The edition will come out in January/February. The challenge was to use seasonal flowers for October, but not look too autumnal. Here are the results of our labours, pictured by me in our studio at 6.30am just before we left to deliver them.

Above is our table centre, button hole and flower ring containing roses, craspedia, hypericum, aster, gomphrena, clary sage, nerines and geranium leaf. We also created a hand tie bouquet, but I ran out of time to photograph that one!

Jo Wise

Filming with Gardeners’ World

By greenandgorgeous on July 31, 2012 in Cut flowers, Larkspur, Lavender, Scabious, Sweet Peas

I was very honoured to be invited to Vauxhall Barracks to film with Gardeners’ World today. There has been an ongoing project to build a community garden on the base, which has been featured several times on the show.

Today the group were throwing a lunch party to celebrate the garden and show the results of all their efforts. I was asked to come along with Rachel de Thame to help the ladies arrange their garden flowers ready for the event. It was great fun and lovely to see how everyone had pulled together to create a fantastic space for all to enjoy.

The ladies had cut buckets of flowers the previous day. We had sweet peas, ammi, scabious, larkspur and lavender to play with. There was a bright mix of colour and enough to do 10 jugs, several posies and a flower ball, which took pride of place hanging in the centre of the tent.

I’m told it will be screened in a couple of weeks, so we’ll keep you posted. In the meantime here are a few snapshots.