Our China asters Callistephus chinensis are out if full force this week in the cutting garden. We've grown some lovely big peachy ones which are really pretty and the bees are enjoying them too. They like moisture-retaining soils and so have been thriving in the wet weather we've been having!
These are annual asters, so mum's done a great job with them this year, thank you mum. It's a bit easier to grow perennial asters, Michlemas daisies, in the garden and these will come back year after year adding some autumnal colour to the beds.
You might say the weather has been somewhat disappointing for the start of the school holidays, but the flowers have been enjoying it and are all well-hydrated and growing well in the warm, wet weather.
This posy includes zinnia for the first time this year which are an almost comical flower that comes out in the late summer and keeps flowering till the frosts. It typically has bright coloured flowers like red, fushia and orange but we are also growing the more subtle varieties such as 'queen red lime' and 'envy'. This posy has scent from the apple mint, phlox and rosemary. I hope you enjoy it.
Hello sunflower! It's that time again. Sunflowers are showing up everywhere and if you're lucky enough to live near a field of them, even better! Such a joyful flower to see in the height of summer.
This posy is packed full of homegrown ingredients, and fragrance from lavender, phlox, mint and fennel. We've also tucked in some wonderful rose-scented geranium which is well-worth a pinch! We lost all of ours in the very-cold winter, so this has been expertly grown by Spindle Flowers, part of the Flowers From the Farm community.
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We're pleased to have our morning gathered agapanthus in this week's posies. This plant is native to Southern Africa but if you've spent time in New Zealand you might also recognise it from growing tall along the road sides where it has become naturalised. In Australia it is known as 'Star of Bethlehem' as it makes an appearance for their summer Christmas-time.
Just like buses, we've got two more true blue ingredients this week and they are homegrown eryngium (sea holly) and cornflowers from a second-sowing. To balance out the blues we have a pink hydrangea - so you could say our posy is gender neutral!
This posy includes the first of our homegrown gypsophila crop and this variety is called 'million stars'. It's a more delicate, dainty flower-shape than the more usual rounded 'baby's breath'. It was a surprise actually because I thought most of what we were growing was the round type, but it seems that, not for the first time, the garden had other plans!
We've got some other new arrivals this week, such as the lime green Nicotiana (tobacco plant), red pompon dahlia, white lavender, and the true blues of the Echinops and hydrangea.
