I do love Echinacea. Some people say they look like wilted daisies and I suppose they do really but if you get up close, they’re sooo beautiful. I actually like the way that their petals hang towards the ground. It makes them look even more delicate and exotic than other flowers.
I have one sturdy perennial plant in the garden, grown mainly for cutting purposes (everything must work for its place here at mtp!) It’s definitely going from strength to strength. I’d say the plant has doubled in size since I planted it last year and it has also given me double the number of cut flowers. Perfect.
It’s also perfect for a kitchen garden because it doesn’t take up much room. The plant is pretty sturdy and all the flowers grow straight up on a long stalk. It hardly takes up any room at all - unlike my Lavender which is sprawling all over my pathways and consequently is on the ‘might have to dig you up and move you soon’ list.
I’ve no idea which variety it is (possibly Summer Sky) but it’s beautiful and will always have a place (albeit a sunny one) in my kitchen garden.
What cut flowers would you recommend? Are you growing any?
I picked the first of my tulips this afternoon. I have a bank of them growing along the left hand side of mtp. I love tulips. They’re just so crisp and fresh. I love the way that they’re quite firm to the touch and stand bolt upright. I love the way sometimes their colour doesn’t got all the way to the bottom of the petals but merges into green just before it hits the stalk. I love that squeaky noise that they make when you rub the leaves together.
They’re also the perfect cut flower for the kitchen garden! You plant them in Aug, Sept when most vegetables are coming to an end and you’ve got lots of ground to play with. And they flower so early that they will be over and done with by the time the ground is needed again for vegetables. Brilliant!
If there’s no sunshine outside then I’ll just have to bring it indoors! These are Jackson’s Sunflowers. When he was born a friend’s mum bought him some tiny gardening tools and a pack of dwarf Sunflowers (thanks Mrs Price). I am ashamed to admit that I’ve been using said mini tools for my seedlings (I’m testing them!) and I sowed the dwarf Sunflower seeds almost immediately. Bad kitty, I know, but I can’t leave seeds unsown, it’s not in my DNA.
I’m glad I did sow them because now, just when I need a pick-me-up, my garden is overflowing with beautiful Sunflowers. And Jackson likes them too! Everyone’s happy, no?
I’m the person who buys a bunch of flowers from the supermarket, unwraps them, chops the ends off and dumps them in the vase, ready-arranged. I’m certainly no florist. But there’s something about Sweet Peas and their mouth-watering scent that makes me want to throw caution to the wind, pull out my kitchen scissors and cut a new bunch every day. Once I started chopping there was no stopping me. The few Cornflowers that were flowering quickly found their way into my new garden posy, as did one or two unlucky Lavender heads. Of course I had to tie it with string to give it that true Victorian look - all I need now is a sweetheart to give it to. Or better still - I’ll just keep it myself.
Well you could call this the first harvest. These are my white (with a hint of yellow) tulips that I planted as cutting flowers way back in October. They have turned out very well despite being jammed into the smallest pot in the world and carted from one side of the garden to the next while the landscapers where here. Later on this year I hope to plant them in the garden where they will stay. But for now I am enjoying having some cut flowers available. I’m not really sure why they open up like this. They seem to do this in the morning and then close up in the afternoon. Maybe it’s the sun. But either way they are beautiful and definitely a sign that Spring is here.
I cut these gorgeous Hyacinths today. I planted the bulbs back in November when I planted the Tulips. The tulips are still green but these are ready and what a colour? The electric blue is almost too vibrant for the garden. It stands out so much against the plain backdrop (of virtually no plants) that I was actually quite happy to bring them indoors. And the smell - wow!
It’s taken them a while but once the Asters started to flower they really went for it. They are still flowering now, even though the weather has officially gone rubbish. They are a great little cut flower. They take up little room and each plant gives you around 4 or 5 of these gorgeous blooms. They don’t seem to like the whole idea of cut and come and basically die once you have cut them but for a late summer cut flower they are fab. I sowed these back in April with the Cosmos and Hollyhocks. They took quite a lot of looking after (heated propagator, potting on, staking etc) which is how the packet told me to go about it. However, my Dad said that he used to bung a few seeds in once the weather warmed up in May or June and they would soon catch up to the molly-coddled little winter darlings. So next year, I’m going for the easy option! This variety is a new one, Orange Sherbet, even though I would say they are more pink than orange.
This is what happens to leeks if you let them go to seed and flower. This one was planted around this time last year and it has just rewarded us with this beautiful flower which the bees absolutely love. They are actually great as a cut flower as this one has lasted for over a week. Great, if you can put up with the oniony smell!
Hollyhock’s really are a beautiful flower. Totally useless for cutting however, as the flower stem is so large that by the time the bottom flower has finished blooming and is dying away the top flowers are only just thinking about opening. They are also huge plants that take up lots of room. Maybe next year I will only grow them at the allotment. Don’t forget the stakes!
Hooray! At least one of the plants I sowed in my cutting garden is flowering. The flowers really are a very bright orange. All I need now is a lime-green sitting room to put them in, eek!
