Monday flowers on a Tuesday – better late than never has never been more apt! Life in my household can only be described as chaotic this year with travelling children and an assortment of guests coming and going on a regular basis. Days of well planned routines seem like a distant memory but I am not complaining as I know come the autumn my daughters will be settled in new cities with new jobs and my son will be starting university, leaving us as true empty nesters – at least until the Christmas holidays.
The last three weeks have been taken up with a visit from my sister in law and her family from Florida. It has been such a treat to have my small nephew brightening the days – we celebrated his 7th birthday with a family party and a big bouncy castle, took out a boat on the Broads, ate fish and chips at the beach and saw some amazing magic tricks at Kentwell Hall. They left yesterday leaving us feeling rather flat, but we are looking forward to seeing them again soon on our annual trip to Florida. Another sister in law and her family – who live in London – have been spending weekends with us and joining in with the fun. The two of us share a love of vintage containers and this weekend she brought her latest purchase to show me – this beautiful soup tureen which is missing its lid was picked up for a song and is perfect for the showy dahlias which are filling my cutting beds right now – I had no choice but to flower it up for her and share it with you today!
Although I have very little time for gardening and flower arranging at the moment, my cutting beds are overflowing with treats. The half hardy annuals are getting into their swing, new dahlias are flowering every day and my outdoor sweet peas are pumping out the blooms. Above you can see amaranthus Hot Biscuits, chocolate cosmos, sweet peas, heuchera, lime & beech foliage and a selection of dahlias.
This lovely dark sweet pea is a favourite. You can also see the lime seeds clearly – I have cut off the leaves so that the seeds stand out.
The selection of dahlias above includes Totally Tangerine, Apricot Beauty and Labyrinth – some of my favourite dahlias in apricot shades.
The colouring on these heuchera leaves works perfectly with the apricot and plum colours in this arrangement.
Amaranthus Hot Biscuits is new to me this year – its stunning copper shades will work with so many flowers and I can see it will be a staple in autumn arrangements. Amaranthus is a half hardy annual, meaning that it will not survive a frost. The seeds are very easy to germinate but must be pricked out and kept in a frost free place until after your last frost date. Amaranthus start to flower in July and will continue producing these amazing long tassels until the plants are killed by an autumn frost.
Chocolate cosmos is also a new plant to me this year and is rapidly becoming a favourite. It is a tender perennial so in my frost prone cutting garden I will have to lift it in October and keep it under cover in my greenhouse or cold frames until late May next year. It produces a succession of flowers on lovely delicate long stems that twist and turn in such an elegant way – most definitely a top tip for your cutting gardens!
Heucheras are another perennial that I consider to be a cutting garden essential. The beautiful leaves come in a variety of colours and are great for filling in low level open spaces in an arrangement and the flower stems provide airy structure.
I have not been playing with flowers very much this year – one thing or another always seems to get in the way, so I thoroughly enjoyed filling this beautiful tureen with all the lovelies from the cutting garden. As ever I am linking up with Cathy at Rambling In The Garden, albeit a day late joining in with her challenge to find something from the garden to put in a vase every week of the year.
I hope that you are all well and enjoying your gardens – whatever the season where you are.
Insert your profile info here, by going to Users -> Your Profile -> Biographical Info. Profile image (avatar) comes from gravatar.com. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam faucibus ornare lectus nec cursus.
I particularly like the amanthus ‘Hot Biscuits’ . The name is perfect for their colour – it reminds me of making a cheesecake base!
I, too, haven’t had much time for gardenening over the last few weeks. A new granddaughter and hubby’s 60th birthday have taken priority over the garden and with another granddaughter due in 5 weeks I think it will actually be Autumn before I will be out there again!
What a lovely reason not to be gardening Sandra! Congratulations on your new arrival & so exciting to have another on the way so soon. Wishing your husband a happy birthday! xx
Thanks Julie!
Yes I must thank you for introducing me to this amaranthus as well – I have been thrilled with the usual red and green ones in the last few years but will definitely be looking out for this one for next year! The soup tureen is a brilliant receptacle for your an abundant array of blooms and I am wondering if I have got anything of that size that I could try out a large arrangement in one of these days, something I have tended to shy away from. The tureen has certainly given you the the chance to showcase allsorts of goodies – don’t those lime flowers look effective?! What a busy time you have been having, and how much you have been enjoying a new generation, of which I am guess there will be many more in due course. Thanks for sharing
Thank you Cathy – I would certainly recommend seeking out vessels like this at car boot sales etc. I packed this one with chicken wire to support the flowers & added lots of foliage around the outside before filling the centre with blooms.
You are going to be empty-nesters? Can’t believe it! That chocolate cosmos is really lovely: I don’t have much luck with cosmos. They tend to be very small flowers, floppy and just disappointing. I am assuming they don’t like my heat! But oh my Helianthus, Heliopsis and Rubdeckias: they are fabulous here. It does tend to be a very yellow garden this time of year…but I will take what I can get. Yours are just so lovely, as usual, Julie.
Thank you Libby – I love all the late summer flowers in their orange & yellow shades. I have rudbeckia just coming into flower & can’t wait for it to get going – and the zinnias – I can’t get enough of them!! Lovely to hear from you – it looks very hot where you are. xx
Hi Julie. Your soup tureen-inspired arrangement is a feast for the eyes. You grow intriguing color selections and just reading the words “apricot” and “plum” in your text elevates the mood. The dahlias are delectable. Glad you’re enjoying family-filled pleasures this summer.
It’s a gorgeous arrangement, Julie! I’m glad you took the time to put it together despite your busy schedule. That ‘Hot Biscuits’ Amaranthus is new to me (not that I’d have much change of getting it to grow here) and I was excited to see Dahlia ‘Labyrinth’. I tried to mail order that Dahlia tuber back in January but the grower ran sold out of them (and a number of my other top picks) before I could even get my “cart” to check-out. After seeing yours, I think I need to hunt down another source for planting next year.
Thank you Kris – do you know Floret Flowers – she is a grower in Washington who recently started selling seeds & dahlia tubers & she had some lovely varieties of both. xx