Flowers for a summer gate side stand
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Flowers | 18 comments
Photo: Posy of flowers
My mum gave up driving some time ago. Now she walks or takes a taxi – there aren’t many buses in her part of Cambridge. She rang me last night to say that she had had a taxi ride with a retired commercial flower grower who had given her a list of the flowers that are popular and last well in water.
Apparently he said that you can’t grow enough Sweet Peas. Asters and Pinks are good sellers and of course Sweet Williams. I’m growing Cosmos and Zinnias as both last well in water. My mum added two of her own pet choices that keep going well – Marigolds and Cornflowers. I have perennial cornflowers in the garden and they bob up every year. The annual cornflowers are gorgeous too.
I have Marigolds and Pinks as seedlings. I hadn’t considered Sweet Williams so visited Thompson and Morgan to look for seeds. Usually Sweet Williams need to be sown in June to flower next year. T&M are offering seeds that flower within 10 weeks a compact dwarf variety Indian Carpet Mixed and Summer Sundae. I also discovered that Sweet Williams flowers are edible – T&M says “The petals add zest to ice cream, sorbets, salads, fruit salad, dessert sauces, seafood stir fries.”
The plant and seed companies are responding to these challenging times by pushing grow your own vegetables and cut flowers. I spotted that Unwins are selling 264 cutting flower plant plugs for £27.50 including Stocks, Sweet Williams, Asters and Chrysanthemums. They also have a bee friendly cut flower collection. The same amount of plants for the same price but these are antirrhinums, Penstemon, Marigolds and Dahlias. Apparently if bees feed of a wide selection of flowers their immune system improves. On the Unwins site I also discovered that Antirrhinums are a great cut flower and last well in water.
So now the list is:
Sweet Peas (very fragrant varieties are best)
Asters
Pinks
Sweet Williams
Cosmos
Zinnias
Marigolds
Antirrhinums (snap dragons)
Dahlias
Cornflowers
Chrysanthemums
It’s no way definitive but it’s a start. I’d love to hear if you have any suggestions for cut flowers that last well in water.
Now the final question is. Do I invest in the plug plants or grow my own seeds? The commercial growers claim that these collections are supposed to flower from June to the first frosts. If I invest £27.50 (+ £3.95 P&P) what would the returns be like? If each plant produces just 10 flowers over a 5 month period and bunches are sold at 10p a flower the gross income would be £264.00. Suddenly the plugs seem like a good option as I’m already raising an alarming amount of vegetable seeds. It would be great to hear your opinion.
Hopefully in time similar gate side stands will be providing a bit of extra income for readers all over the world.
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I’ve just been and bough a ‘stash’ at the local gardening-porn shop….you’ve really got to know when to stop, I bought quite a lot today.
I got seeds as I do hope to feel smug in late Summer/Autumn. I’m going to companion plant in my walled garden, to try and attract the ‘right sort’ of insects (the one’s in DJs wearing bow-ties…)
Cosmos
Marigolds
Sunflowers
Tomato
Lettuce
Runner Beans
Carrots
Gigantic Pumpkin
Desiree Potatoes
Something I grew last year from seed was Verbena bonariensis, and I moved it when we moved house and it’s happliy growing here in The Larches. Very nice as a cut flower.
Personally, I would go for the plugs – but only because I have no greenhouse, and not much space and so have had limited success with seeds in the past as the seedlings have been quite weak.
I saw the Flower Farm program on TV – very interesting.
Good luck with the flowers Fiona – I look forward to seeing photos of them later in the year !
I brought a summer collection of 250 plug plants from thompson and Morgan last year unfortunately there were 7 plants that looked withered and didn`t last so i phoned and was very polite and mentioned the 7 plants, no problem said the operator we will replace them for you, within 7 days 3 trays of 36 plants arrived now that is what i call a bargain, enjoy your plug plants xxx
I also tought of you when watching Montys Dream Farm last night,did you see it? I was astonished when they said no one else did native flowers,duhh Wiggly Wigglers are famous for it! but the Wiggly Heather was a good person for them to meet,I wonder if their farm is thriving now,I must go google lol!
I buy a few bunches from a gate stand near the smalls school,simple normally one flower posies for a £1 or £2 but wonderful,the dalias were great!
GTM x x x
My advice, grow your own – this would give greater sense of satisfaction ad be more profitable! (surely)
I think it makes sense to do plugs for the biennials and maybe perennials, but you could save money with seed for the annuals. Peonies are supposed to make excellent cut flowers, and smell nice too. And I’m not just saying it because they are my favorite flower.
I don’t think a gate side stand would work here somehow. The Latvians are actually a generous folk and regularly leave apples out in various places for people to help themselves so I think they would misunderstand what a gate side stand is for 🙂
Oh and flower wise, alot of the online plant suppliers are giving away free lilies this year. The bulbs won’t make good crops till next year but beautiful free blooms for the future and only one stem per bouquet makes a big difference. Also not so good until the second year dwarf iris’ and flags are good and last well when cut. Most of the gardening sites sell them in packs of 100 bulbs and mine just seem to get bigger every year now with more and more blooms in a range of vibrant colours.
As in earlier posts when I mentioned bulk plug plants I have to advise to go this way rather than seeds. The plugs are always very healthy and usually because of the pods they come in you always get a few extra to the amount paid for.
Another excellent reason for going the plug route is that the arrival time is usually mid to end april, giving you time to raise vegetable seeds and the weather having turned by then to have planted those out making room in greenhouses etc. Its far better to be totally organic with the vegetables boasting grown from seed in organic compost as people are going to be eating them, flowers people aren’t so bothered about the soil they grew up in etc.
Room/time/successful healthy plants/free extras all add up to the make sense options for the flowers.. but just my opinion, but as I have said before I have been cashing in on bulk plug plants for a few years now and my garden is blooming from the profits.
I see that tonight’s (Thursday) Monty Don programme, My dream farm, is about selling flowers. Perhaps a few more pointers?!