Flowers from the garden: September
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Flowers | 11 comments
This is the ninth month of flowers from our garden. I decided to stop buying flowers from the supermarket and wayside stalls in January. I worked out that including parties and festivals we were spending over five hundred pounds a year on flowers. Flowers have always been a regular treat and indulgence for me. They give me enormous pleasure. Especially a bunch on the kitchen table as this is where I sit and work when I am at home.
Giving up buying flowers has not been a easy. The first three months were the worst when there wasn’t much flowering in the garden and the displays in the shops looked so fabulous. Gradually, I have begun to enjoy the challenge. And bit by bit, I have become more creative with my selections. I copied Joanna, over at Joanna’s food and picked the ground elder flowers, they lasted well and looked so pretty. I have also used snippets from shrubs.
Years ago, when this was a weekend cottage for me, My Mum used to stay a lot during the week. She would always pick a small posy of flowers for my bedroom. I did the same for her. This gentle exchange of tokens was a small celebration of the cottage. I had forgotten the pleasure of these posies until this evening. These tiny posies were a challenge too.
Now I find that I prefer a bunch of flowers from the garden to the supermarket ones. They are softer and as I have planted each flower over the years, each one resonates. I must admit that I was surprised to find all these flowers at lunchtime. I just haven’t been pottering in the garden enough recently.
September’s bunch includes two roses, Iceberg and Thisbe. Iceberg will flower reasonably well on a north facing border. It doesn’t have much scent but flowers on and off from spring until the first frosts. Thisbe was the name of my dog that was sent to replace my very own first dog. She had gone blind at six months and had to be put down. Thisbe was a star and the best companion. So I was duty bound to buy the rose when I spotted it at Sagger’s Nursery Garden, Newport, Essex.The little rose has a heady old rose scent and the pale yellow buds change to creamy yellow and then cream as they start to go over. I love this rose almost as much as I loved the little dog.
The rest of the bunch is a combination of campanula lactiflora, cosmos and Japanese anemones. The two fuchsias are growing just outside the backdoor. They have loved the warm wet summer, flourished and given us enormous pleasure.
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That sounds fabulous, Kate(uk). Zinnias are such perky flowers.
My kitchen table has shocking pink zinnias and dahlia ‘Edinburgh’- dark purple centre and white petal tips. Aren’t japanese aenemones fabulous this year- good to know something liked all the rain!
Flowers are so important, Kate. A room without flowers always seems a bit dead to me.
You grow some gorgeous flowers in your garden, I love visiting your blog and drooling over them!
Hi Fiona,
I love your bouquet of flowers. The roses are beautiful and I love Japanese Anemones (even more so because I can’t grow them here). I enjoyed reading about the Thisbe rose and what it means for you.
I’m like you with wanting a bouquet of flowers on the table. It was a lovely gesture that your Mum and you did for your bedrooms.
Hi Joanna,
I must buy some Matucana. I believe that you have said in the past the Sarah Raven sells the seed. I’d love to swap notes but mine would be a tiny list and your, I suspect would be a wad of notes!
I don’t buy any flowers but D very occasionally buys me flowers (the remaindered ones from Waitrose) and this is how we have discovered the difference in overall feel. The shop ones must be treated with chemicals as they last so much longer. I had never considered that before.
Thanks for the tips on the winter months.
I have seen Iceberg flourishing under Caledonian Pines.
Hi Amanda,
I am beginning to enjoy the challenge. It’s making me think about the flower garden more. For the past three years the focus has been on the vegetables.
Hi Celia,
The Thisbe rose is a repeat flowering modern rose. It is in our main herbaceous border and is so pretty.
Great that you have sorted the church flowers with ones from your garden. I hadn’t considered bringing sedum and privet into the house, thanks for the tip. I bought Autumn Joy last year at Beth Chatto’s garden, it’s gorgeous.
Hi Pat,
Yes we are lucky in the UK. Generally there is something flowering in the winter months.
Hi Ash,
Absolutely spot on. All those suggestions would look stunning. I need to think more laterally with this project. Thanks for your suggestions.
Don’t forget things like branches, artichokes, berries. We are currently selling chestnut branches, stems of rosehips, all kinds of berries and baby apples in the shop. Just a few of any of these in a tall vase make a stunning display.
Fiona those are really lovely flowers. You know since I moved to this country(10 years ago) there has been something in flower here ever since!!!! Back in Indiana, during the winter we don’t get flowers like here. It is really amazing!!!!
The Thisbe rose is a beautiful subtle colour – and i loved reading the touching story of why you planted it.
It’s our village Harvest festival this Sunday, and I have to do my bit and decorate a window sill in the church. cliff gave me a “look” when I said I might buy some flowers, but after walking round the garden I’ve spotted some lovely sunflowers, there’s loads of sedum “Autumn Joy” and some bright yellow new shoots on the golden privet bush. I also grow zinnias in the veg garden for cutting and there are some with nice long stalks. So that’s the Harvest flowers sorted. You’re absolutely right that seasonal flowers are the best.
Always interesting to read what you and Joanna have to say. Love that you and your mum used to leave flowers for each other. A very lovely post!
I love this post, I love being reminded that the flowers in the garden – and indeed the weeds – are 100x nicer than anything you can get in the supermarket. I love being reminded of the posies my mother-in-law used to make us when we came to stay here for the weekend, before we moved here full time.
On my desk, I have a bunch of scented sweet peas, Matucana (also known as Cupani’s original), which will self seed if you let them. They’re the very original sweet pea, and they are easy, and flower from March to September. I have another vase of dahlias, which are essential for anyone trying to do without bought flowers, they start in July and keep going til the first frosts, although this year I am going to try to keep one going under glass until Christmas. It’s trickier in the winter months – but then there’s greenery, and one flower is fine with a picking of interesting leaves. And the early bulbs are a blessing, too.
Like you, I am less keen on bought flowers now, although I have not yet renounced them entirely. I planted a lot of gladioli a couple of years ago, so that I could pick them for the house, but I can’t bear to, so I still buy them … but now I find that I like the ones in the garden a lot better than the ones in the florist or supermarket, so soon I shan’t be buying them any more, as I get fussier about colours and single blooms.
It sounds to me as if we should swap planting lists and ideas … Iceberg my father grew, but I didn’t realise it would flower on a north wall, useful to know …
Joanna