Roses are Britain’s favourite flower and at this time of year it’s easy to see why.
Here at Fieldcrest Garden our roses are all coming into bloom, and their scent is wafting in the air. I do tend to go for pink roses of all shades, but I am gradually introducing yellows and oranges too.
In addition to our other specialist plants, we now have a selection of old fashioned and modern hybrid roses for sale in the nursery.
This summer we are opening three times a week for our visitors to buy specialist plants, seeds and scented flowers
Please do come along during our new opening hours on Tuesday and Friday afternoons plus Saturday mornings to visit the nursery and look around our flower garden.
To celebrate our new opening hours, throughout June and July we are offering a complimentary tea or coffee in the Garden Room when you make a purchase of flowers, plants or seeds. See below for T&Cs
Cut flowers
Our cut flower season is well underway (although not helped by the cold wind and rain this week!). In addition to our usual farm gate flowers, we now have enamel buckets (pronounced bouquets?!) full of fresh flowers which make lovely gifts or just a treat for yourself. Prices start at £8 for a selection of seasonal home grown blooms.
We’ll publish lists of what’s in bloom/what foliage is available every month on the website.
Courses: Our Edible Flower and Flowers for the Cutting Garden courses are now fully booked but we still have a few places left on our Baking with Herbs Course. Book Now!
In the Garden: It’s time to sow biennials. It seems strange that it is time to sow biennials as many are currently flowering. True biennials grow in year one, flower in year two, set seed and die. The reason we sow now is to make sure that we have good sized plants and flowers for next spring and early summer.
Some star biennials to invest in new ready for next year are:
Foxglove Digitalis: I have ordered quite a few varieties which I aim to grow/pick/sell next spring. If you like using foxgloves in arrangements but the first flowers are too big, remove the main flower and side flowers (which are much smaller) will grow up.
Wallflowers Erysimum cheiri ‘Fire King’, ‘Blood Red’ and ‘Vulcan’: There are lots of varieties to choose from, even pink now. Each flower often has a mix of colours. If you want to cut them for the vase, don’t go for the dwarf varieties, choose some of the old fashioned varieties such as Fire King, Blood Red, Primrose. When cut they will only last a few days but have a lovely scent and go beautifully with tulips
Sweet Rocket, Hesperis Matronalis: Sweet Rocket is quite a large and ungainly grower, but if you have the space for it, it has a lovely scent and is covered in lots of white or mauve flowers in May and June.
It will also grow in sun and semi-shade, so is brilliant for lighting up some shady spots in the garden.
Honesty Lunaria annua : The flowers are very similar to sweet rocket, but it is earlier to flower. It looks lovely in the semi wild parts of a garden. The flowers are very pretty, but often these can be left on to make the silver seed pods loved by florists.
Perennial stock Matthiola incana (white and purple-flowered forms): My stocks were fantastic last year, they just kept on flowering and the scent was brilliant, so this is a must for me.
Sweet William Dianthus barbatus: Again, I can’t do without Sweet William. They have a lovely large flower head and come in colours from white, pink, lilac and red. I do like the auricula eyed varieties, but there are lots of others to choose from. The good thing about them is that they are in flower late May and June when there isn’t a huge amount of colour in the garden, but the downside is that they do take up quite a lot of space in the cutting garden for a relatively short length of time.
Wishing everyone a happy summer in the garden.
Chris, Paul and team
Free tea and coffee Terms & Conditions. One cup of tea or coffee from our Garden Room, when a purchase is made from our new nursery of any plants, flowers or seeds. Offer ends 31 July 2019. One drink per person, redeemable once.