Try these summer stalwarts
Zinnia (Zinnia elegans)
For colour indoors and out, there are few flowers to beat zinnias. The seed packs of these annuals contain a rainbow mix of brightly-coloured blooms. Sow the seeds directly in your flowerbed in spring; they germinate easily in almost any type of soil and will flower from summer to autumn. Zinnias need plenty of sun and light to flower abundantly and thrive in hot, dry climates. As the leaves are prone to mildew, try to keep the foliage dry when watering. These plants are available in dwarf as well as tall-growing varieties. Those with longer stems bear bigger blooms that are more suitable as cut flowers. Zinnias will last for 4–7 days in the vase.
Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus)
Cosmos blooms – in shades of pink, maroon and white – are a familiar sight in late summer. Sow their seeds directly into a bed of compost-rich soil in spring and keep them moist but not too wet. Cosmos is available in single and double flowers and will last about 4–6 days in a vase. And remember that the more you pick cosmos, the more they’ll flower!
If you purchase cosmos blooms at a florist, select flowers that are not yet fully open as their vase life is unfortunately already half over by that stage – you should be able to tell what colour they are by the buds.
[TIPS FOR THE VASE]
• Make sure your secateurs and vase are clean; this limits the spread of bacteria which shortens the vase life of the flowers. • Always use clean tap water at room temperature. And never mix dirty and clean water or put freshly-picked flowers in buckets of stale water. • To improve water uptake, trim off the lower 2cm of the stem before putting it in a vase; this cuts off the natural seal that forms on the stem and gets rid of possible air bubbles in the stem tip. Make a diagonal cut rather than a straight cut to prevent the stem from resting on the bottom of the vase and not taking up water. • It is not necessary to fill the vase right to the top; a third full is sufficient. • There should be no leaves below water level. They will rot and encourage the growth of bacteria in the water. >>