PLANT OF THE WEEK
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All of which got me thinking about what I’m going to grow in the garden this year that I can also cut and bring indoors to enjoy both scent and colour.
I’m not alone. Over the past decade a huge industry has grown up around homegrown flowers for cutting. And d by home grown I mean gardeners ners turning into farmers, commandeering some land, building polytunnels and growing crops of flowers, from chrysanthemums to dahlias, to sweet peas, tulips, lilies and more.
From the 1930s, legendary florist Constance
Spry pioneered this idea by growing what were considered romantic English flowers for her shop in Pimlico, o, Central London. Her stock was
a seasonal, it wasn’t associated with air miles and she set trends by having an annual exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show.
These days a premium can be achieved for the same cut flower blossoms. They are the polar opposite of the cellophane-wrapped petrol station forecourt blooms, and they’ll make the heart leap when presented to a loved one!
Many of them are easy to grow, even in our garden-sized plots. So if you wish to be a home-grown florist what are your
choices? THE fungal disease downy mildew, was the scourge of with busy Lizzies, but breeders have been creating disease-resistant varieties – and the busy Lizzie is now back in business.
It’s long been a favourite bedding plant for its bright profuse flowers and ability to
Top of any list comes the sweet pea. It’s a plant that responds to its flowers being harvested by producing more, it has a wonderful fragrance and is easy to grow.
This is a job you can start straight away by sowing seeds. You can even start sowing in the autumn for a head start, but now is a good time as well.
If you don’t have the space or capacity to grow from seed, purchase seedlings in spring. It’s a good idea to succession sow to give you a longer picking season. thrive in sun or semi-shade, and now Thompson & Morgan are selling plug plants for despatch at the end of March of ‘Imara’, a mix of pink, white and red. It sells 24 plants for £11.99 and describes them as strong growing and resilient “with better disease resistance”.
Those in the know use owlsacreseeds.co.uk which specialises in sweet peas. It has a great selection, including early flowering varieties – the Winter Sunshine series – as well as heirlooms.
Lilies are dramatic, beautiful and make excellent cut flowers. Again, you could have planted these in the autumn but spring will be fine too.
They don’t like sitting in heavy wet soil so if yours is unsuitable then plant in pots. You can sink these pots into your borders if you like and lift before the winter to keep dry. Whether in soil or pots, it’s a good idea to sprinkle some horticultural grit at the base of the bulb to help keep them dry.
Lily bulbs are big and should be planted deep – they need at least six inches of soil over them. Sarahraven. com has a lovely collection of scented varieties (Scented
Lily Collection, £15.95 for nine bulbs), chosen to give you a succession of beautiful flowers which
will fill your garden