Edwardian House Flowers
Winter
My dried flowers have sold out, and the garden is beckoning, so it's time to tackle those winter tasks. I've been protecting hundreds of wild narcissi and lily flowering tulip bulbs from the squirrels (chilli powder), mulching my precious dahlias (raw sheep's wool - smelly but effective) and planting my latest David Austin bare root roses. But where to find space for them all? Answer: start digging up the path!
Have a lovely holiday everyone and I look forward very much to seeing you all again in the spring! X
October
My flower jar season has finally come to a close, and how grateful I am to each and every one of my customers for their wonderful response to my garden's offerings! As the very last blooms are harvested in preparation for my autumn creations, I can add them to the wide variety of flowers, herbs and foliage that I've been drying since late summer in order to make these beautiful wreaths. The bundles are hanging in every nook and cranny of my Edwardian house and the scent is amazing - like newly mown hay. I'm currently experimenting with all the different combinations and I can't wait to show you the results in November, so see you soon!
September
I thought the garden might be starting to slow down this month but not a bit of it! Strawflower seedheads and pompom dahlias, sunflowers, china asters and yes, little stems of green tomatoes have all made their way into the arrangements recently, together with the first rusty colours of autumn foliage. The grower's year begins in September and so I've been busy sowing seeds for many many more beautiful flowers next year. Scented wallflowers and stocks, corncockle and white foxgloves are already romping away and hopefully will soon be big enough to survive the first frosts. Keep an eye out for them in your spring and summer jars!
September Treats
A customer's question about white wildflowers made me think of oxeye daisies and feverfew; possibly my two favourite ingredients for the arrangements as they seem to add a instant glow on even the gloomiest of summer days. I will be giving away freshly harvested seed with every jar this month so just scatter and wait. Sunshine on a stem!
August
A distinctly late summer feel to the arrangements now, with rosehips, seedheads, berries and dried grasses all making an appearance. These beautifully complement the rich colours of dahlias, cosmos, rudbeckia and goldenrod. Scented foliage includes eucalyptus, fennel, pineapple mint, tagetes and my favourite perlagonium, 'Attar of Roses,' which smells of Turkish Delight!
August Treats
Of all the flowers in my jars, none has attracted as much attention as the ruffled, lime coloured Primula Francesca, flamboyant cousin of our native wild primrose. Easy to grow in dappled shade and flowering from March to July, these are spreading rapidly beneath my apple tree and so I'll be giving away free plants with every jar for the rest of the month. Existing customers are also welcome to call me if they'd like some!
July
Summer flowers galore this month with larkspur, achillea, strawflowers, marigolds, clematis, lady's mantle, sea lavender and more. And how these balmy evenings bring out the delicious scent of honeysuckle, jasmine, sweet peas, stocks, and French lavender! No garden? Then share mine with a lovely Vintage Posy or Summertime Jar. As one regular customer commented, "Your flowers just bring us all so much joy."
July Treats
These striking poppies, up to 3 feet tall, will appear in your garden every year if you let them. The giant papery petals, in shades of rose and lilac, give way to mint coloured seedheads which last and last. Leave a couple of your favourite colours standing until they dry and shed their seeds, then enjoy them again next summer. A packet of my own seeds with every jar this month will get you started!
June
More beautiful blues coming through this month with the aptly named honeywort, as the bees love it so much. To me they look like little jade sea horses. Also the exquisite love-in-a-mist (nigella). Like many flowers this is lovely at every stage, so growing my own means that I can use the buds, the blooms and the seedheads, sometimes even in the same jar!
June Treats
June also brings the wild flowers which self seed all over my garden, such as foxgloves, oxeye daisies, red campion and meadow buttercups. Scattered through an arrangement, together with lemon balm, oregano and feverfew, these will take you far far away from the city and into the middle of the countryside. To keep you there for longer I will be giving away a bunch of freshly picked herbs with every jar this week.
I never miss Mapesbury Open Gardens Day, with its perfect combination of flowers, tea and cake. (If all goes well I hope to be able to open my own garden next time). See you there!
May
An exciting and slightly nerve racking first week for Edwardian House Flowers, with lots of lovely new customers generously supporting my tiny neighborhood business. Thank you very very much Mapesbury Estate! Many of you have told me that you like to make a point of buying local and you can't get much more local than me. It's been great fun chatting to you on the doors, covering every possible garden related topic from how to tackle a flooded lawn to which outfit goes best with a corsage! I'm especially grateful to Lydford Road for quickly buying all my flowers in the rain so that I could head home for a cuppa. I'd switched my barrow for a basket and umbrella (very Eliza Doolittle) but no matter; my flowers and I are waterproof!
As May begins I'm bidding farewell to my beautiful spicy narcissi. Debating this on the doorstep with a customer we decided that its scent is a cross between lemon soap and ginger. But that's the true wonder of seasonal flowers; our time with them each year is so precious for being limited and it just makes us appreciate them all the more. Plus we have the joy of anticipation next spring as we wait for them to reappear. Do we really want our flowers' seasons to be artificially stretched by unnatural growing methods? Like strawberries in December, we just know that something is not quite right. And of course nature always has something equally lovely waiting in the wings...
Enter fabulous tulips and the first of the anemones and ranunculus. They may not be scented but they more than make up for it with their gorgeous sweet shop colours. I do like each jar to be scented though, so whilst I wait for the mock orange blossom to open (any day now) I'm tucking sweet smelling daphne or lilac into every arrangement along with a stem of chocolate mint.
May Treats
Customers just love the smell of my chocolate mint, with one lady telling me she was going to use hers to make tea. No need to pull it out of the arrangement; this week I will be giving away a little bunch of stems with every jar so treat yourself to a delicious pot. You can also add it to any recipe that uses chocolate to give it that garden vibe!
A set of Vintage Posies ordered for a tea party tomorrow. These pretty table decorations are always a talking point as everyone immediately tries to name each flower. If you wish I can send a list with each order so that you can swot up beforehand and impress your guests with your botanical knowledge! In these jars are apple blossom, cowslips, anemones, ranunculus, forget me nots, snowball bush, primroses, cow parsley, bluebells, wild strawberries, daphne and of course, chocolate mint!
As the bluebells and forget me nots fade away, the next wave of blue in my arrangements will come from cornflowers (above) and the weird and wonderful Fiddleneck (Lacy phaecelia). Named on the Friends of the Earth website as the single most bee friendly flower on the planet, I grow lots and lots of this. Its astonishing head, best described as a set of slowly unfurling fluffy lilac caterpillars (!) means that bees have a huge surface area, packed with pollen and nectar, on which to gorge themselves. Whoever designed this clearly loves bees!
More May Treats
I will be giving away a packet of Fiddleneck seeds with each jar this month. If you don't have a garden why not just pass them on to someone who does. Simply scatter the seeds in a sunny patch and water occasionally. Happy bees, happy planet!
This week I will be cutting columbine, sweet cicely, fiddleneck, broom, catmint, rosemary, honeywort, sage, quaking grass, cow parsley and more. And so many richly scented flowers to choose from at the moment: cottage pinks, mock orange blossom, sweet rocket, wild valerian and rambling roses. The minute you enter the room you will know there's an Edwardian House Flowers jar in there!
April
At long long last some sunshine to make our gardens grow and so Edwardian House Flowers is open for business! A lovely week calling on my neighbours with samples of some early blooms. So very many kind and enthusiastic comments; a huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone. It's been wonderful to discover just how many of you really do care about the provenance of your flowers and long for the opportunity to buy arrangements free from pesticides, plastic and air miles.
Most importantly of all a thousand thanks to family and friends for helping me with my exciting new venture. Thank you Chris, Harvey, Louis, Eugene, Tamara, Brigitte, Maja, Miriam, Dinah, Nathan, Jaydon and Carina. Let's all keep blooming together!
So, this week I will be cutting tulips, hellebores, narcissi, apple blossom, bluebells, primroses (there they are at the top), cowslips, honesty, forget me nots, euphorbia, budding hazel and more. And of course lots of lovely greenery to show that your jars truly are full of garden. These beauties won't last forever, so now that I'm all kitted out with my shiny green wheelbarrow and pedlar's licence I'll also be selling from door to door. Call me now or look out for me on Mapesbury!