Say it with British flowers

Tags

British flowers, imported flowers, Primroses, seasonal flowers, Valentine's Day

primrose posy

Valentine’s Day, one of the busiest times for flower sellers across the world is approaching. You can’t get stirred for the ubiquitous red rose, deemed the perfect expression of love, but it’s a gesture that comes at a considerable cost. Whilst the creep of supermarkets into the world of floristry has made a bouquet of roses more affordable for the masses, demand means a single stem can still cost into double figures from your high-end florists. But it’s not just the impact on your bank balance there’s the cost to the environment too.

Ten or fifteen years ago a revolution in food started here in the UK. We started to appreciate locally produced food for its freshness, seasonality and provenance. I really hope that we can start to care that little bit more about the flowers we buy too. Most flowers for sale in the UK are imported, grown in far-flung countries using chemicals often banned here in the EU. The environmental impact can be huge, depleting the local area of its water resources and damaging eco-systems. Flowers are beautiful and I can’t imagine not being able to have them in my home but let’s face it, they are non-essential. And, for that reason, I think we should care about the environmental cost of the flowers we buy even more. It feels even more careless that an indulgence should damage the planet. Taking a stance and refusing to buy imported blooms doesn’t mean you have to do without though. Caring for the planet doesn’t have to mean donning a hair shirt, it’s about taking a look at what we have closer to home and sourcing British grown flowers or growing your own.

The environmental cost isn’t the only reason why I dislike imported flowers. Even if the roses came with a zero carbon footprint I wouldn’t want them. They speak little of a thoughtful gift and a declaration of love and more of the way big business dictates to us what we can buy. It was the Victorians that first made a big deal about Valentine’s Day, but before the advent of air travel lovers would have had no choice but to exchange small posies of spring flowers. It’s only really been in the last twenty to thirty years where flowers have become a commodity to be traded on a global scale.

Imported roses always look fake to me. They never open fully and, worst of all, they have no scent whatsoever. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I know for some nothing other than a red rose, or a dozen of them, will do. But there are alternatives, blooms which are seasonal and scented, which will bring spring cheer to a gloomy, soggy February. It’s hard to believe when you look out the window on to a garden that is muddy and forlorn that it is possible to substitute those imported flowers for home-grown blooms, but it is. Our reliance on imported flowers has disconnected us from the seasons.

Valentine’s heart

Walking around my garden the other day I was able to pick a small posy of primroses. I added a few ivy leaves and tied with twine and there you have it – the sweetest and simplest of flowery gifts. All the stormy weather we’ve had recently means it’s a great time to go out and collect windfall stems. Weeping birch is perfect for making wreaths because it’s so bendy. I collected these on Friday and bent them into a heart shape, securing at the base. Scouring the garden again I picked some scented stems of Viburnum bodnantense, Viburnum tinus, sacococca and winter honeysuckle. I tied these into the base along with some ivy which I wound around the heart. A home-grown, hand-made and completely free (well apart from the twine) Valentine’s gift. Pop it in a vase or jug of water and it’ll last a week. Plan ahead and you could also have early flowering daffs or any number of bulbs in pretty pots.

Now I know that men purchase the vast majority of flowers on Valentine’s Day and some of them are possibly not going to be scrabbling around in the garden for flowers and making wondrous woven hearts, but that doesn’t mean red roses have to be the default alternative. Subtly or not so subtly, depending on how you approach these things in your relationship, point him in the direction of the increasing number of amazing flower farmers here in the UK. They are springing up all over the country and many deliver too. To find your nearest try the Flowers from the Farm website or The British Flower Collective. It might seem bleak and bare out there but even in February we have British grown scented narcissi, tulips, hyacinths, pussy willow, muscari and hellebores to choose from. So this Valentine’s Day say it with British flowers.

Unsung Garden Heroes

Tags

cut flower, Oriental poppies, vase life

Roses can be hard work

There are some plants that are just a pain to grow, rather like a new born baby they need a high level of input to look after them. In my own garden I’m thinking roses in particular, not only is there the appropriate pruning regime for that particular rose but also the feeding, the deadheading, the watering and that’s before I even mention the list of pests and diseases just waiting to attack them. Then there are plants such as delphiniums and hostas which are mauled by slugs. Stunning magnolias which you wait all year for to flower and then just when they are looking at their best there is a frost, which turns all those petals to brown mush and oriental poppies whose flowers can be destroyed by a heavy shower. I still grow these plants, well apart from the delphiniums there really was no point giving the slugs a slap up meal every spring, because for all the hard work they are glamorous and beautiful. Fortunately though there are some plants out there that just get on and do their thing without any fuss or attention. These are often not the showiest, most dramatic of plants but they are in my opinion the unsung heroes.

Alchemilla mollis

I’m thinking of plants such as Alchemilla mollis. I know a lot of people who think of it as a weed. Yes it does self seed but I’ve found the young plants easy enough to remove. I love its crinkly fresh green foliage as it starts to grow in early spring and once fully unfurled the leaves capture raindrops, where they sit like globules of mercury. The lime green, fading to yellow, flowers are not dramatic but give the garden a zing and contrast well with so many other plants. I love using the flowers in my cut flower arrangements where they have a good vase life and the foliage is a useful filler too. By July the leaves and flowers of alchemilla are starting to look tired but if you cut them back fairly hard, in several weeks you will have plenty of new, fresh green growth and with a mild autumn, a second flush of flowers.

Erigeron or Mexican fleabane

Another favourite of mine is erigeron or Mexican fleabane. It’s a plant I remember from my childhood holidays in Cornwall growing in rocky crevices. These plants always looked a bit scrawny in such poor conditions but grown in richer garden soil it will make larger, greener clumps that are covered in daisy like flowers all summer long. The only care erigeron needs is a cut back in mid spring.

Sedums are a must in any garden. From as early as February their thick, fleshy rosettes of leaves push through, forming clumps as the spring and summer progresses. From July they start to flower in a range of pinks, reds and white and are adored by butterflies, bees and hoverflies. Their flowers fade in mid autumn but as they die and dry out they leave seedheads which if left over winter look beautiful rimed with frost. A quick trim back of these stems in late spring is enough to keep these plants looking good.

Geranium

Geraniums are a large group of plants and they are an excellent easy going addition to any garden, from tiny alpine plants to big and blousy clumps they will tolerate a variety of conditions. Geranium phaeum is an early flowerer but most will bloom from May until July. To get a second flush of  flowers be brave and cut the plant back down to the ground. This may seem extreme but you will be rewarded with fresh leaves and more flowers.

And finally, valerian or centranthus is another unsung hero in my own garden. It too, reminds me of holidays in Cornwall where it can be found growing in fairly inhospitable places, virtually growing in sand and being hit by salt-laden winds. It will grow more lush in garden soil producing good sized clumps with either reddish pink or white flowers, I personally prefer the pink. Leaves start to appear in late February with flowers appearing from late May and given a sunny spot it will flower all summer long. It does benefit form a little deadheading and this helps to restrict it self sowing but is otherwise unfussy.

All these plants are untroubled by pests and diseases, left untouched by slugs and are easily propagated, so are great for filling gardens on a budget. So lets hear it for the unsung heroes of our gardens and be grateful that not all plants are as needy as roses!

I loved to hear about the plants you think deserve a bit more attention.

A Thorny Problem

Tags

felco secateurs, Geof Hamilton, green fly, RHS encyclopedia, Rosa, Rosa A Shropshire Lad, Rosa Gertrude Jekyll, Rose pruning

The end of February is the perfect time to prune your roses, whilst they are still dormant but just about to burst into life. On Tuesday, as mine were starting to show signs of growth with a few buds opening I decided it was a job that needed tackling, so armed with some cleaned and sharpened secateurs and some gloves I set about the task.

I do have a bit of a love/hate relationship with roses. They are such a quintessential part of a garden for me and their scent is beautiful but they take a lot of care to look good. They seem to attract every greenfly in the vicinity, along with leafhoppers and are particularly prone to fungal infections such as blackspot and mildew. Trying to look after them organically, without an arsenal of chemical sprays at your disposal can be a real test.

Then there’s the pruning, a thorny problem indeed. A lot of people are flummoxed by pruning in general but roses, like clematis, seem to cause more than their fair share of panics. I think it is mainly due to the many different types of roses available; species roses, ramblers, climbers, old English roses, modern shrub roses, tea roses, musks, I could go on. It can be confusing to say the least as to how to tackle the different varieties. Coupled with this is the fact that roses have evolved to be covered in vicious thorns, natures way of protecting them from being eaten by grazing animals, although there are times when it feels like it was probably more to fend off gardeners wielding secateurs.

Rose 'Gertrude Jekyll'

We have 3 roses; Gertrude Jekyll an old rose hybrid, with a particularly strong ‘rose’ scent which was voted the nations favourite rose by BBC viewers in 2006, Geoff Hamilton, a Leander hybrid, again with a lovely scent and named after one of Britain’s most popular TV gardeners and A Shropshire Lad, an English Alba hybrid which we grow as a climber.

I started with the 2 shrub roses first. Pruning these is fairly straightforward, removing any dead, diseased or damaged stems first and then reducing the other stems to between one and two thirds. It is also good practice to try to create quite an open bush with no congested stems growing in the centre as this allows air to flow through the plant minimising problems with fungal diseases. To maintain this open structure always prune back to an outward facing bud, so any new growth is growing out and away from the plant.

It wasn’t long though before the roses were putting up a fight. It may have been the warmest February day for years yesterday but on Tuesday it was still quite chilly so I was wearing my winter hat. Whilst bending over my hat was snagged on some thorns, Gertrude Jekyll has some particularly vicious ones. My hands were full with prunings and I couldn’t release my hat. After a couple of tugs the hat came off my head but remained attached to the thorns as if the rose had acquired a triumphal trophy. The other problem was my gloves. They’ve been through the wash so much now that they’ve become really stiff, making it awkward to perform tasks that require a bit of dexterity. It was no good the gloves would have to come off, of course this meant I was scratched to bits. I also came across the first green fly of the year, can you believe it, already congregating on the young rose leaves just as they’re opening. So much for that cold spell killing them off.

I then turned my attentions to A Shropshire Lad. We have this growing up against a fence and I have been training in the stems over the last 2 years to create a nice framework. I still find it a bit daunting pruning this rose though and after a couple of minutes of looking at it wondering where to start I went into the house in search of my trusty RHS Encyclopedia. Because there are more stems and branches it can feel a bit overwhelming tackling a climber but with my book propped open at ‘How to prune and train a climbing rose’ I felt a bit more confident. Initially, the principles are the same as the other roses removing the dead, diseased and damaged stems but then it became more about maintaining a shape that encourages the most flowers.

By training the vertical stems to grow horizontally this changes the hormone balance in the stems and rather than the plant concentrating on producing vegetative growth it focusses on flowering. I removed a couple of large stems from the base and any spindly, twiggy branches and then reduced any sideshoots by about two thirds. Finally, I tied in the stems to wires already on the fence to hold them in place. The flowers on A Shropshire Lad are quite large and especially after rain can become heavy so it’s important to tie in any new growth over the year to prevent any stems snapping.

A Shropshire Lad, pruned and tied in

My back was aching afterwards and I was a little blood-stained from my thorny encounter but it felt very satisfying. Although pruning the climbing rose has exposed that I now need to paint the fence. Another job to add to the list. The question is can I manage to paint the fence without covering the rose in it.