If you are regular reader of my blog, you will know that over time, my garden has evolved from a huge veg patch to a space that is now full of beds planted with flowers, specifically for cutting.
Several years after starting the patch I realised that it was actually a lot of very hard work, digging spuds and saving everything else from slugs, snail, caterpillars and various other crawly things . My garden evolved and even more so this year as I removed all the original raised beds and replaced them with new smaller ones. I also planted lots of perennial plants to make life easier again. Its not that I am lazy, far from it, but I have managed to hurt my back and now find it hard to spend a full day outside doing heavy work. Flowers are the way ahead.
As the summer started we were hit with cold wet weather and the plants were not growing well. I was struggling to cut 3 or vases a week and the garden looked empty. Things started to look up in late July and there were more flowers coming into the house and going to neighbours, but the patch still looked a bit empty and colourless. Thats the trouble with cutting, there is nothing left outside.
I need not of worried for long. We went on holiday at the beginning of August and I left the care of the tomatoes in the greenhouse to my neighbour, and the flower beds to the automatic sprinkler system.
When we came home the patch had come to life, its actually quite beautiful and now I am left wandering if perhaps I should not cut everything but leave some behind. What do you think? this is what it looks like today in the glorious south coast sunshine.
No too shabby
Below are Zinnia (top left) Dahlia (top right) Scabious (bottom left and something beginning with H whose name I cannot remember (bottom right).
A lot of these are new flowers to me, that I have not grown before and also perennial so they will come year after year. I have though, realised that some are in completely the wrong place so there will be a bit of plant moving over the winter. I bought quite a few unusual chrysanthemums (top left), and these are just starting to flower, along with rudbeckia (bottom left) and echinacia (top right). I am also now totally in love with Astrantia (bottom right) and have 3 different colours.
I don't think I needed to have worried.
I am not going to stop cutting flowers for the house, but might leave a lot more to enjoy outside as well . Here are selection of posies made with flowers cut from the garden yesterday.
I hope you love the flowers as much as I do.
I am trying a new look for the blog so would be interested to hear what you think.
It's always difficult deciding whether to cut or leave the flowers on display in the garden. Luckily I have my cut flower patches at the allotment and so garden flowers are left alone.
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