Goodbye July
Tanacetum parthenium; our feverfew is has been flowering this month here in West Cumbria, and after brutal neglect since last year - drought and all- it was a waist high bed of teeny little flowers. Reading up on this traditional medicinal plant, I’ve realised that I need to investigate it’s ‘insect repellent’ properties because with the summer sun, and rain, come mosquitos and horseflies. (So many horseflies!) So these appear to be ‘mosquito unfriendly flowers’?! Who knows, it could become a ‘thing’...
Roses: sometimes you just have to step away from the crowd, take a risk and see if it works, and this rose is an example of that. My research suggested it would be ‘our’ sort of brand orange - pinky salmon tones of bright - so I thought we’d give it a whirl and I’m so pleased we did. In bud it was startlingly luminous but it’s opening up into a beauty and I will add vibrant pizazz to our gift bouquets!
Delphinium: every time I write flower on my iPhone it autocorrects to ‘glower’, and I write glower, I mean flower, a lot! This is not what I wanted to say about this delphinium. I was trying to think of how to describe its colour and I came up with ‘electric brilliance’. But maybe it is a ‘glow-er’ eh??!! I’m not sure its a Farrow and Ball tone but as far as I’m concerned it’s a keeper! So vibrant... a true Cumberland Flower Farm shade of happiness.
If you fancy having a go at growing cut flowers, I think cosmos is where you should start. They germinate well, are very tough and grow in all soil types (and neglect, not a problem), if you pick the flowers they will flower continuously until the hard frosts in late October, and they are so very pretty. They come in all shades of pinks and white, doubles, frilly, seashell and just very simple singles. All loved by insects, particularly bees.
When I moved to Cumbria in 2010 I brought a lavender plant with me and it has thrived in our back garden. The flower stems are long (60cm +) with a lovely purple flower that have a strong scent. I have a few plants propagated from it at the allotment and today I have cut the flowers and I am taking cuttings for the field. I’ve been taking lots of cuttings this year - free plants! - and learning how best to ensure a good success rate. Geraniums, pelargoniums and Rosemary are also on today’s list... It’s such a great way of increasing your quantity of plants without huge investment but also growing more of the specific plants that thrive in your location.
Our dahlias are coming along, with hundreds of buds. They need sunshine! Don’t we all?! I’m hopeful for tomorrow... coming to our bouquets in the Honesty Shop soon!