We have a beautiful purple Lupin plant in our garden and I noticed last year that after the petals flower, they turn into pods and, over time turn black, so this year I decided to research what this process was and realised that each pod houses seeds – what an amazing cycle!
Charlie, my eldest, noticed this too so we collected all the black pods and put them in a pot and sat down at a table to open them. He was amazed that there were seeds inside. It was such a nice calming activity to do together and once all the pods had been opened and the seeds collected we put them in little envelopes which we used rubber stamps to label.
The plan is to then sow these seeds next Spring and hopefully we’ll have a few more Lupin plants for the garden. I hope they work, as we’ve got so many we’ve decided to give them as little gifts to family and friends too, so if nothing happens that will be a bit of a disappointment/letdown!
We’ve headed down to Pembrokeshire to stay with my in-laws for the month which has been so great for the boys to have a change of scenery, and us to be honest. The temperature is never as hot here as it is back in Leigh so during this heatwave we’ve been able to take the boys out to the beach and it’s not too much for them. I’ve been really lucky to have help with the mundane everyday chores like cooking and washing so I’ve relished getting stuck into some projects in the evenings once the boys are asleep. The first one on my list was to plan the garden (which I fear will have suffered from the lack of watering while we’re away.)
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts we’ve always tried to add a few plants and flowers here and there to the garden and slowly build it up after our budget was obliterated by the cost of removing all the conifers. But I felt like I needed more of a plan. during lockdown I planted some seeds, (of which the Cosmos and the basil were the only really successful ones!) but I feel like I’ve got to know the garden more, which plants do well in which spots, and what sorts of colours we want to try and add in as well as where the sun hits etc.
I’ve always liked the idea of a wild flower garden so plants attractive to bees have always been top of my list. Over the course of last week I drew up a plan of the garden with what plants and flowers we already had growing, and where there were gaps, what we’d like to fill them with. To add to the geekiness I also drew up an Excel spreadsheet and listed each flower, and what to do according to month, like when to sow the seeds, when to acclimatise them to outside, when to deadhead etc etc. Their position on the layout was decided according to whether that flower like full sun, part shade etc.
I feel like now I have the plan I’m excited to get started adding to the garden over the next year so that by next summer it feels a lot fuller and we have flowering plants to give colour and texture from Spring until the Autumn.
Here’s a list of the flowers we’re going to add, some we’ll buy as plants, some start from bulbs and others we’ll sow the seeds starting them indoors and transferring them outdoors when the weather is right. I’d love to know if there’s anything you think we should add!
I love a simple jam jar flower arrangement. When I worked at Scarlet & Violet in London we always had jam jar arrangements ready for customers to grab ‘n’ go – they make great dinner party gifts or a treat to yourself as they’re usually really reasonably priced. If you ask your local florist for a jam jar arrangement (they’ll usually have jars in stock for about £1 so they can make one up with flowers that you pick), and depending on the season they’ll usually come in under £20. In summer when florists can use more British blooms like cornflowers and scabious, a jam jar can look really abundant for not a lot of money. Obviously the more expensive stems you choose like peonies will take up more of the budget.
If you keep the jar, then its something you can refill yourself quite easily too with cuttings from the garden, and it can contain whatever you like, not necessary flowers but maybe just foliage if that’s what you’re feeling that week, A mixture of different greens against a white backdrop looks lovely and fresh.
Vases don’t have to be ornate to be effective and if you think you want to spruce the jam jar up a little then why not add different strands of coloured ribbon, or simple twine for more of a rustic feel? The humble jam jar will brighten up a dining table, mantlepiece or desk and is guaranteed to put a smile on your face when you catch a glimpse of it throughout your week.
This one below was a gift from a florist friend when she came to visit and looks beautiful filled with English Scabious, peonies, dahlias, cow parsley and fern.
I always worked with freshly cut flowers while at Scarlet & Violet, selling a few succulents in pots at certain times of the year, so it wasn’t until I started working at Bunched in Leigh-on-Sea after I had a baby that I started to learn about house plants as we sold them alongside the cut flowers.
Plants have so many advantages for the home – they add an instant hit of green to brighten a space, they add oxygen to the air which helps to purify it, they need relatively little care which makes them great for busy lives and putting them in stylish pots can really finish off a room.
Below I’ve listed the 5 most popular house plants with a few key benefits to each as well as some tips for keeping them alive. I’ve had a Rubber Plant for 3 years now, and even though I feel like I neglect it, it seems to always have new shoots, so I must be doing something right…
Rubber Plant: A Rubber Plant likes to be watered about once a week with a little water (about half to a full cup depending on its size) If you keep the leaves clean with a damp cloth it helps them to absorb more sunlight. Leaving it to completely drain with water before putting it back in place will also help keep the roots healthy. This is a great plant for steadily growing in your space and choosing one with three separate shoots will help make more of an impact.
Image via Pinterest
Fiddle Leaf Fig: This is the plant you see all over Instagram interiors accounts, as much as a lush Fiddle Fig can look amazing in a room, a lot of people struggle to keep them alive. They like a lot of light, so ensure you rotate it every couple of months so the plant grows equally. When the top inch of the soil feels dry, give the plant a little lukewarm water. They also like nutrient rich soil, so pop in some pant food every now and again.
Image via Pinterest
Boston Fern: This lush fern has a mass of bright green foliage that looks great on a kitchen worktop or hanging in a macrame pot. They need a bit more care from us, liking to be misted with water on a daily basis (a bathroom is a great place for these beauties to thrive) but what they take from us in care they give back. This plant helps to rid the home of harmful toxins and helps to purify the air, making them great for owners with dry skin or who suffer with dry throats.
Image via Pinterest
Sansevieria: This is also known as Mother-in-Law’s Tongue and is another great air purifier. It’s most well known for releasing oxygen at night helping to purify the air which makes them a perfect addition to a bedroom for a better nights sleep. A Sansevieria will also thrive on neglect and only needs a small amount of sunlight and the smallest amount of water, perfect for the forgetful among us!
Image from afloral.com via Pinterest
Cheese Plant: This is an easy to grow, large-leaved plant that has characteristic splits in the leaves. They’re perfect for filling a big space, they grow quite quickly, so will usually need to be repotted every couple of years. They have thick stemmed vines so sometimes need to have a bamboo stick attached to leaves to help them stay upright. Light and watering once a week will help keep this beauty healthy.
Image via Pinterest
Here are a couple of pointers to help keep houseplants alive:
Ensure the whole plant will be able to get natural light. If only part of it does, you’ll find that it starts growing towards the sunlight which could result in a wonky plant.
Most houseplants will only want a minimal amount of water once a week (apart from a Boston Fern) depending on their size. Try not to leave it longer and then compensate with a flood of water as this will result in yellow leaves and waterlogged soil.
If placing in a basket, keep the plant in it’s original pot and always remove from the basket before watering. Once watered, let it completely drain before returning to the basket.
If planting the plant into a pot, ensure that there is appropriate drainage at the bottom, such as broken pot pieces or hydrolica clay balls.
Give the leaves a dust or wipe every now and again to remove dust and ensure they’re lovely a shiny so they can absorb light properly.
This is probably the first year since we moved into our house four years ago that I’ve seen a glimmer of the wild flower garden I hoped to create. When we relocated from London the garden was surrounded by conifers, which although were great for adding privacy to the garden, completely left it in shadow and left no room for any flowers.
After a bit of research we decided that the conifers had to go. It was an expensive and labour intensive job that left most of the flower beds with remnants of roots and our garden budget for the forseeable depleted.
Over the next year or so we started making a few trips to garden centres – being a florist I had an idea of the flowers I wanted to grow around the edge of the grass, in particular peonies, dahlias, poppies and roses. We invested in the plants on my wishlist – a David Austin rose, a magnolia, and forget-me-nots too and since then some have established and others we’ve lost (I’m looking at you Camelia) I also bought a wild flower seed box and scattered it on the right side of the garden hoping this would help my vision.
3 years on and the particular bed where I put the wild flower seeds has an abundance of foxgloves from cerise pink to coral and cream, poppies, forget me nots and I’ve planted Cosmos from seed and Zinnias too. There’s loads of foxgloves scattered around the garden so I think i’ll keep them condensed in one bed and remove the others and they’re poisonous, so as much as I love them, they’re not ideal with little boys playing in the garden.
I’m hoping to continue growing some flowers from seed over the next few years and maybe start a proper vegetable trough too. It’s hard as we want to eventually do some work to the back of the house and re-do the patio area so we’re not sure how damaged the garden will be afterwards, on the one hand you want it to look amazing to enjoy now, but on the other you don’t want to invest too much time and money if it is going to really suffer during the future works and we’ll end up having to effectively start from scratch again.
Right now is a great time as everything is budding and ready to burst into bloom. I’m hoping for an abundance of colour over the next few weeks. Here’s a few pics of flowers that are already showing off.
I may work with freshly cut flowers as a florist but that doesn’t mean I have a clue when it comes to growing my own blooms from seed. What started as an idea to keep the boys entertained during lockdown has actually turned into my own little personal project and i’m eagerly awaiting the fruits of my labour.
Charlie and I planted some Cosmos seeds back in March before lockdown alongside some cress (I thought the quick results would grab his interest) and when the Cosmos seeds germinated and we could see little green shoots appearing we got very excited and decided to start some Zinnia seeds off too. Having nurtured them for a few weeks, making sure they had the right light and enough water I decided it was time to plant them out in the garden.
I know advice says to slowly introduce the outside elements to the seedlings over the course of two weeks, but I gave them two days (see it as a crash course!) as I felt they had grown so big the minimal soil I planted them with (something I will change next time) wasn’t enough to nourish them.
So at the weekend I took some time to decide where in the garden I wanted each variety of flower to grow and went about transferring the seedlings to the ground. I definitely think they’re happier in more soil so i’m keeping my fingers crossed they continue to thrive (I’m hoping the epic rain forecast this week will help rather than hinder them) and in a few weeks i’ll see the first buds appearing.
I think i’ve definitely caught the bug for growing my own flowers in the garden, not only is it really cost effective, it’s super satisfying too. Next on my list are sweetpeas and Nigella, hopefully my beginners luck will continue.
Here are the seedlings in situ. Zinnias in the first picture and Cosmos in the second. I’ll keep you updated on the progress.
One of the great things to have come out of this enforced isolation period is that I’m taking the time to try and get the garden looking more like the wild flower vision I had for it when we moved in. It’s been a slow process, the garden we inherited was surrounded by conifers, and while these prevented us being overlooked by the neighbours, they drained light from the space, but also meant there wasn’t many room for flowers.
When we hired tree surgeons to come and remove said conifers it took out a large proportion of our budget for the garden that year, but it was a good job done, and the roots were so deep that we needed to give the ground some time to recover, so we had a pretty bare garden for a while.
Over the next two years we’ve made a couple of trips to garden centres to add some plants and colour to the borders, which being free of conifers were calling for some life. We’ve planted a David Austin rose bush, foxgloves, Hellibores, Forget-me-Nots, a Magnolia tree and Poppies and I’ve recently planted some Peony bulbs (my favourite) but it’s definitely a work in progress.
Our plan for the next couple of years is to do some major renovation work on the back of the house, removing an outdated conservatory and redoing the patio area so I think there’s part of us that’s holding back on doing too much or dedicating too much time to planting just in case it’s completely ruined and we have to start from scratch post workmen.
However, since Covid-19 hit, its become clear that it’s going to be a couple more years until we can save enough money for the plans we have, so in the meantime I’ve been sowing some flower seeds to plant to the garden, partly as a fun activity to do with Charlie, for him to watch the process from seed to flower, but also as a fun personal project too.
So far we’ve planted some Cosmos and Zinnia seeds in germination trays as well as some Icelandic poppies, and when the frosts lift in the mornings i’ll plant these outside. I’d also love to make use of all the empty pots we have by growing some herbs in them under the kitchen window, to help make the patio feel a bit more joyful too.
As a florist i’m more used to working with cut flowers direct from Holland or the flower market but I have to say I think I’ve caught the bug with growing my own too. I’m checking the seedlings every night and am excited by the prospect of having some Cosmos that i’ve cultivated from seeds plated in the garden soon. Hopefully this is just the start of a gardening hobby blossoming and my wild flower garden dream can actually become a reality…I’ll keep you posted!
If ever there was a picture to sum up how long its been since my last post, going from summer foxgloves to the tree outside my house that encapsulates Autumn, this it it.
So hello! It’s been a while…while I set this blog up in June and had every intention of adding to it regularly, getting used to looking after two children meant that the summer kind of flew me by, and now i’m just sitting down to write this in late November with The Pogues threatening to blare out of the radio at any moment signalling the start of the festive season…how did that happen?!
While life with a three-year-old and a new baby has been pretty chaotic, it has also been wonderful, and now Jack is six months he’s sitting up playing and starting to eat food and the bond between him and Charlie is really starting to form.
With Jack that bit older and less reliant on me, I’m aiming to carve out some time hopefully twice a week to write some posts on here and take some time for myself, and that’s definitely my goal for 2020 so let’s see how it goes!
For now i’ll leave you with the leaves on this tree that are the most striking shade of red and burnt orange, its not surprising i’ve noticed passers-by stop to snap it on their phone, and while i’ve been admiring it for a few weeks now, it’s only today that I finally captured it myself too.
How lucky am I that Hyde Hall, part of the Royal Horticultural Society, is only about a 20 minute drive from where I live? It’s such a great space – not only to take the children to, with its vast open spaces and adventure playground, but it’s jam packed with so many different varieties of flowers and herbs which is both a feast for the eyes and senses.
At the moment, the foxgloves are in abundance, growing to great heights and in a lovely variety of colours. Named because their petals look like the fingers of a glove, my favourite shade is the coral, but the most widely seen are the pale pink. Foxgloves are a great addition to bouquets to add that focal point and height but I particularly love to see them in gardens, they really add to that English country garden vibe.
