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

Mid Summer Wedding at Woldingham School

Last August we did flowers for a magical wedding at Woldingham School which is a wonderfully secluded venue nestling in 700 acres of stunning Surrey countryside. It has an array of rooms with beautiful architectural features and a grand but also warm and intimate atmosphere. The chapel is more contemporary with amazing vibrant stained glass windows.

We were asked to provide bridal flowers and decorate the venue and chapel. The beautiful bride surprised and delighted us with her brief of bright, jewel colours and desire for lots of different flower varieties to give an eclectic feel. Often people are wary of choosing strong colours and think they might not work in a classic setting so we were really happy to go with something a little different and in the end it all came together and looked stunning!

We used all the lovely flowers that were flowering at their peak in August, like dahlias, zinnias, hydrangeas and gladioli. The photographer was Helena Miscioscia who captured the beauty and happiness of the day.

About to leave...

Bridesmaids

Lovely colours!

Summer!

Tables (photo by Homegrown Flower Co)

Top Table Arrangement (photo by Homegrown Flower Co)

Pew Ends (photo by Homegrown Flower Co)

Freestanding Urn Arrangement (photo by Homegrown Flower Co)

Sigh....!!!

Pretty Pastels at Hendall

Back in the summer we had the pleasure of working at Hendall for some lovely weddings. It's one of our local venues and it's a truly beautiful setting with the "wow" factor.

For one of the weddings we were given the brief to do some summery, pale, pretty and natural flowers with a simple, just-picked look. The bride liked the delicate prettiness of meadowy flowers like feverfew, cosmos and scabious, which is always music to our ears! We tied little jars of cosmos and feverfew to the ends of the chairs and included a simple mixed foliage garland along a handrail. For extra impact we used two large free-standing urn arrangements with hydrangea "Annabelle", the wonderful dahlia "cafe au lait" and blue larkspur.

Ceremony table

Garland - 7m long!

Urn arrangement 

Perfection! Cafe au Lait growing in the polytunnel

Queen of Sweden Roses

We've had a difficult year with our roses as they have been plagued by aphids and suffered from water logging over the winter which was not good! They are perking up now, but one rose which has definitely been our star performer is the beautiful David Austin blush pink variety Queen of Sweden. Despite its delicate appearance it seems to be really robust and has been flowering non-stop since June. It has a good vase life, lovely strong stems and is fantastic for weddings. We love it! It starts out almost coral / apricot before fading to a wonderful pale pink which is simply beautiful. It looks wonderful with just some foliage in a bridal bouquet or combined with other flowers for tables etc.

Table flowers in our lovely vintage Wedgwood urns

Wedding table flowers with roses, peonies, and hydrangeas

Bouquet of Queen of Sweden Roses for a wedding at Wakehurst Place

Perfect Wedding Magazine Article

Really pleased to discover that we are featured in a beautiful article in Perfect Wedding magazine this month about a gorgeous vintage inspired wedding from last year. The flowers were all in tones of nude / dusky pinks, and we used some lovely cosmos, achillea, astilbe and dahlias with silvery green foliages like senecio and eucalyptus.



I hope you all agree it looks rather fabulous!