Rustic Box Centrepieces

What sort of arrangements work well on the ceremony and/or top table, and which sorts of containers work well as centrepieces on long rectangular tables? When the flowers need to be long and low to suit a rectangular table and not obliterate people's view it really works well to have the flowers in a rustic wooden box. I think these look amazing in a more informal venue such as a barn where they tie in with the timber structure. They also work really well in a country marquee setting where a more relaxed look is sought. They make a lovely alternative to the conventional low arrangement in floral foam and as an added bonus make really nice giveaways afterwards!

Dahlias, stocks and roses by the Homegrown Flower Company

Rustic box for a June wedding at Hendall Manor Barns

Dahlias, ammi and feverfew by the Homegrown Flower Company

Lovely delphiniums! (found on Pinterest)

Peach roses and stocks (courtesy of Pinterest)

Summer flowers (found on Pinterest)

Rustic meadow

Rustic box with stocks, roses and hydrangea by us for a wedding at Hendall

Lovely pink gypsophila! By the Homegrown Flower Company

Photographer Georgianna Lane

I am always on the lookout for flowery inspiration and on a recent online quest I found some beautiful images of my two favourite things - Roses and Peonies. The pictures were so ravishing I wanted more, so I was led to the website of the US-based photographer Georgianna Lane.  All I can say is "wow", and suggest very strongly that you take a look! She takes the most mouthwateringly stunning pictures of flowers, often in the form of still-life studies and every one is simply gorgeous. She also travels extensively and there are many shots of flowers in garden settings, with a recent blog post of her trip this summer to the David Austin rose gardens. I contacted her and she very kindly said I could show you a few examples of her work on my little blog, so here goes.... (It was really hard to narrow down which ones to use!)

A Look Back on This Summer's Roses

It's always a shame when good things come to an end, and now that it's properly Autumn, lots of flowers are entering their dormant period so sadly we have to say "goodbye" until next year... I thought I'd look back on some of the lovely roses which we harvested in the summer.

The ones that seem happiest are situated in the top garden, whereas the field-grown ones are not as strong growing (poorer soil, moles, too exposed, lots of reasons!). I've therefore decided to dig up the unhappy ones (sounds ruthless but every inch of productive ground counts!) and concentrate on mollycoddling the ones up top. There are still a few flowering but the damp air and falling leaves suggests that it won't be for much longer. They'll get a bit of a tidy up and then a proper pruning in late winter. The lovely thing about the garden varieties compared to the imported ones is they actually smell like a rose ought to! Plus I love the look of the ruffled petals and colour variations.

Queen of Sweden and Sweet Juliet David Austin Roses

Queen of Sweden Roses in one of our mixed buckets, including ammi, cornflowers, delphiniums, astrantia, lambs ears, sweet williams and alchemilla

Brother Cadfael

Duchess of Cornwall, a lovely peachy pink variety

Queen of Sweden,  Wollerton Old Hall, and Chandos Beauty 

A Bridal Bouquet with Duchess of Cornwall

Bouquet with Queen of Sweden roses and Senecio foliage

It's Peony Time!

During the last week or so we have been busy picking our crop of peonies. They have been a bit late this year due to the cold Spring. They are either used there and then for lovely bouquets and arrangements or we put them in the cooler where they can last for a further few weeks. The ability to store the peonies in a cooler is really useful as they have a very short cropping period so this way we can prolong the season of use. They are cut at "soft bud" stage and we trim off most of the leaves. They are then wrapped in tissue paper in bunches of 30 and placed in the fridge out of water laying on the shelves. They go a bit limp and sad looking but can be revived when needed by cutting the ends off and placing in water. Apparently they can be stored for up to 3 months like this but we have usually used them up by the end of July so haven't put this to the test!

We have a generous bed of peonies in the field and they bulk up year on year which is great!

Shoots appearing in Spring

Getting bigger...

Lots of white Duchess de Nemours ready for picking

Buds ready to be picked

Another smaller bed with peonies, astrantia and senecio

A full bucket!

Spring in the Garden

Can't believe it's the 1st May already! It's been a mixed bag so far this year, with some really warm weather interspersed with icy winds and cold nights. Everything in the garden and field is coming along nicely, I'm making an effort to take lots of photos to record how things develop over the growing season. Main tasks done so far include moving all our hydrangeas from the field to a sheltered spot out of the wind and sun as they were getting scorched in their exposed position. Also have been weeding like mad to get on top of it before we get too busy with other things!

It's amazing how things grow so quickly in such a short space of time, I love this time of year as everything is full of promise and it all looks so green and fresh. Orlaya, ammi, ranunculus and cornflowers in the polytunnel are just about to flower, and outside we have sweet rocket, viburnum opulus, dicentra and some tulips and narcissus.

Mid-March, raised bed planted with roses and edged with achillea and feverfew

Same bed, showing more signs of life in the last week of April

Annuals in March

A few weeks later after some sun and rain!

Peony bed in field in mid-March

Much more growth evident in April

Ammi and other annuals in the polytunnel in March

Much better, still no flowers yet though

Kent Country Wedding

Haven't been very impressed with the March weather so far - it's British Summer time on Sunday and for the last few days have been shivering in this persistent north-easterly (i.e. chilly) wind, grrrr!!!! When it's cold I like to look back on the warmth of summers past. Last July we created some arrangements for a quintessential English country wedding that was held in a beautiful family house just outside the pretty Kentish village of Egerton. The wedding day turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year and it was lovely to set up the flowers in the peace and cool of the village church.

We used a selection of flowers that captured the essence of the English countryside in summer, like nigella, scabious, cosmos, ammi, larkspur and phlox. Colours were mainly cool blues and mauves, with a hint of wine red. We have been lucky to have obtained some lovely, stylish photos of the day from the photographer Caro Hutchings.

Getting ready

Bridal bouquet

Such sweet flower girls!

Bridesmaid's bouquet - spot the butterfly!

Pew end

View of the aisle looking back (photo by Homegrown Flower Co)

Love the wild carrot (Daucus Carota) Photo by Homegrown Flower Co

Lovely blue larkspur. Photo by Homegrown Flower Co