“And as the garden is stripped it becomes almost entirely green and brown.’

Monty Don

After last weeks fresh, almost spring like vase, in which I used chrysanthemums from my greenhouse, this week is straight out of the garden borders so based on much more muted shades. In case you missed it I did write a post last week about how I grow chrysanthemums which you might like to have a look at if you are thinking about trying them next year.

Todays arrangement was made this morning in the brief period of sunshine before rain darkened the day. My eye was caught first by a few hydrangeas that have not yet faded completely – there is a still a hit of their summer colours in the petals although that will be gone very soon. Whilst looking for some interesting seed heads and branches to put with them I noticed a few white roses under my pergola and a solitary pink bloom on a cluster of rose hips. 

This white rose is Winchester Cathedral, a David Austin english rose. First flowering back in June these lovely roses were infested with pollen beetles and so unusable in the house. They stopped flowering altogether during the July and August heatwave, but have been producing a handful of blooms on a regular basis throughout the autumn. These I am sure will be the last flowers from this bush until next summer.

I have used a small footed bowl filled with chicken wire today to support my flowers. The bowl is full of water but as it is so small I will have to check it on a daily basis to make sure the water hasn’t dried out. I love using flower bowls like this one as the flowers droop so effortlessly and elegantly over the edge. I particularly love the combination of such a youthful rose blooming amongst the muted glamour of the fading hydrangeas. In fact the border from which these flowers were picked is primarily comprised of hydrangeas inter woven with roses so what you see here perfectly reflects the border that I was contemplating this morning.

Fading hydrangeas are one of my favourite things. In fact whenever I am asked for advice about what to grow I always say start with hydrangeas if your growing conditions are right (and if the conditions aren’t right grow them in pots as I do). Apart from watering, hydrangeas need very little attention – just a quick dead head in early spring to remove the brown papery heads and reveal the new flower buds. They will be in flower in mid to late June and will age gracefully throughout the autumn leaving you with a mass of muted plums, pinks and eventually parchment shades bobbing above your borders for the length of the winter. The dried flower heads are stunning when frosted and mine even survived last winters snow – if you are looking for a low maintenance hit of high impact floral loveliness these are your girls.

I had to finish with this vision of spring – who would believe that I cut these flowers and photographed them on a December morning? This lovely pink rose was flowering amidst a sea of rose hips. If you look closely at the first picture you will see that I did include rose hips as I try always to give a sense of season in my arrangements. I should also say that I never prune my roses before January – although it is tempting to get this prickly task out of the way in autumn there is always the possibility of a few new roses well into December and I would rather have flowers to pick than a tidy border any day!

Before I go I am including a little Give Away this week to welcome in the festive season. I realise that I have not been around very much for some time so if you are reading this today you are probably one of my loyal readers who have been following my blog for sometime now. This Give Away is a thank you to you – a chance to win a little gift from me. I have chosen a lovely seasonal book called Beautiful Winter by Edle Catherina Norman.It is bursting with simple seasonal ideas for wreaths and decorations for your home and fits perfectly with Cathy at Rambling In The Garden’s Monday theme of bringing things in from your garden throughout the winter. If you would like a chance to win the book please leave a comment below saying you would like to be included in the draw and confirming that you are an email subscriber. I will put the names in a hat and announce the winner next Monday – so do pop back here next Monday if you have entered to check if you are the winner!

I will be back later in the week with a few garden jobs that I like to do in December – nothing to onerous as there are plenty of other things to keep us busy this month but I don’t like to completely turn my back on the garden, even at this dark point in the year.

 

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