Thompson & Morgan Gardening Blog

Satisfaction twice – from growing, and from arranging.
Image: shutterstock

As spring arrives and temperatures start to rise, my thoughts turn to flowers. And not just flowers to be enjoyed in the garden. I’m talking about those grown specifically for cutting, to allow me to bring a little of that colour, scent and sunshine indoors too.

You don’t need as much space as you might imagine to grow your own cut flowers. Here’s what I’ll be planting throughout the spring to fill my vases – from showstopping arrangements to elegant bouquets and simple posies.

The centrepiece of your arrangement

Rich red dahlias work beautifully in cut flower arrangements.
Image source: shutterstock

Dahlias, gladioli, hardy and half-hardy annuals are the stalwarts of my cutting patch. In preparation for summer harvests I’m planting and sowing nearly every day at the moment, filling windowsills and greenhouse with rows of trays.

First, the dahlias have been potted up to provide a centrepiece for summer arrangements. They can be planted from mid April, either in the ground or in 2-3 litre pots in multi-purpose potting compost.

I love the rich purples and reds of ‘Bishop of Canterbury’, ‘Downham Royal’ and ‘Thomas A Edison’ alongside the softer tones of ‘Café au Lait’ and ‘Henriette’. I also grow single flowers like ‘Happy Single Date’, ‘Happy Single Wink’ and ‘Happy Single Romeo’ – with vibrant open flowers that contrast with the dark chocolate foliage.

Flowers to create contrast

Gladioli make beautiful cut flowers
Image source: shutterstock

Gladioli perform well as cut flowers and the corms don’t need digging up over winter in my garden in Hertfordshire, although in colder areas of the country they will have to be lifted for the winter when the foliage dies back. If you plant corms in containers every couple of weeks from early May until the end of June, you’ll have flowers throughout the summer.

It’s important to ensure good drainage and to add stakes to support tall cultivars. The central focus of my arrangements last year was Gladiolus ‘Green Star’. Its statuesque flower spikes combine beautifully with other lime flowers such as Zinnia ‘Benary’s Giant Lime’, tobacco plant (Nicotiana langsdorffi and Nicotiana ‘Lime Green’) and the foliage of Bells of Ireland (Moluccella laevis). It can also be used to create visual impact as a counterpoint to the deep purples of Honeywort (Cerinthe purpurascens), Zinnia ‘Purple Prince’ and a range of salvias.

Flowers for texture and volume

The delicate flowers and ferny foliage of ‘love in a mist’ add texture to a bouquet.
Image source: shutterstock

Behind these dramatic performers you can add softer, more delicate forms like bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’), feathertop grass (Pennisetum villosum ‘Cream Falls’) and the euphorbia-like green bracts of common hare’s ear (Bupleurum rotundifolium ‘Green Gold’) to give arrangements greater depth.

Other favourite annuals include the ferny foliage and white umbels of bishop’s weed (Ammi majus ‘Graceland’) and love-in-a-mist (Nigella ‘Blue Starry Skies’) spilling over the front of a vase in a delicate blue haze.

Striking flowers for stand alone bouquets

A large bunch of Rudbeckia makes an impact all on its own.
Image source: shutterstock

Some flowers are at their best in combinations, whereas others, like rudbeckia, create maximum impact in large bunches on their own. Coreopsis x hybrida ‘Incredible Dwarf Mixed’ also works well in loose bunches as the colour variation of each flower creates interest within the arrangement.

Sweet peas are another annual with the ability to blend with other flowers, but they do look beautiful on their own. The perfume from a small posy of ‘Fragrantissima’ can fill a room with the heady scent of summer, and there are always enough flowers on the wigwam to satisfy the pollinators too.

When to plant summer flowers for cutting

Plant gladioli in groups at 14-day intervals to enjoy their fabulous blooms all summer long.
Image source: shutterstock

The next few weeks are an ideal time to sow many annuals. Sow directly in the ground (after the last frost for half-hardy annuals) or into trays ready to transplant outside once the seedlings are large enough to handle.

For the last few years, I’ve been growing flowers and foliage for the house in a small cutting patch alongside edible plants, and in containers. You don’t need acres of space. There’s a huge variety of flowers you can grow to fill your house with colour and scent throughout the summer, no matter what size your garden.

With our wide range of summer flowering plants, you’re sure to find the best blooms to brighten your garden and patio throughout the season. For expert advice on caring for your plants, check out our summer flowers hub page.

Nic Wilson

Nic Wilson is an author, editor and Guardian Country Diarist based in North Hertfordshire. Her debut nature memoir, Land Beneath the Waves, was published in June by Summersdale/Hachette.

Nic works for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine and her writing has featured in numerous journals and magazines including The English Garden, The Garden (RHS Magazine), BBC Wildlife Magazine and the John Clare Society Journal. She enjoys growing flowers and unusual fruit, vegetables and herbs, and loves to encourage nature into the garden. Nic volunteers with her local Wildlife Trust.

www.nicwilson.co.uk

April is here, British Summer Time has kicked in, lighter mornings, longer days to spend in the garden and greenhouse after work. Hooray! More time with my gardening gloves on!

So at my “Office” job at T&M, (when I’m not doing my dirty job!) I speak to customers and help with any Horticultural queries. I love talking and sharing knowledge, every day there is something new! I also take orders for our lovely products.

Tomatoes!

A few weeks ago, a gentleman called and we were talking about different Tomatoes we have both grown, the classics, like Shirley and Gardeners Delight were of course mentioned. I’d tried, successfully, with Mountain Magic and Terenzo last year, which he hadn’t and he suggested I tried the heart shaped Tomatoberry. I ordered a packet and as you can see from the photos, when I planted them and today, they are towering out of their pot, begging to be transplanted into 9cm pots to grow on a little more, creating a better root structure.

I’m also trying another cucumber this year called Bella, i’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out as I try not to buy shop bought cucumbers during the summer months.

My greenhouse at home is filling up nicely, along with the one at work.

Perennials

I ordered the Perennial ‘Best Value’ Collection a little while ago and 72 little healthy plug plants arrived on my door mat. I love receiving plug plugs, potting them on, watching them develop and then planting them in their final place. I am also waiting for the Summer Bedding Collection which is another pack of 72, think I have 2 packs coming actually! Yippee!

I have built another mini greenhouse frame to go inside the greenhouse as more shelving for the tender plugs and seedlings.

The fruit trees are also starting to show their wonderful blooms, Apricot, Plum and Peach. These are fan trained against the red brick walls on the Estate where I work.

Hope the warm weather continues and the insects pollinate those fruit trees for delicious treats later in the year!

Finally, the wellies were planted last weekend, some thyme plants found a new home in my split wellies!

Anyway, enjoy April and all it has to offer!

Sue Russell

One of my earliest memories; helping my Mum and Dad weed the veggie plot and collecting chicken eggs from the chooks at the end of the garden. I grew up on a farm as a child and always had my own piece of land to grow and learn with, so I suppose its in the blood!
In my mid twenties, I re trained in Horticulture (Professional Gardening ANCH) and set up my own Gardening business working for clients in the Suffolk/Essex area. For the last thirteen years I’ve had the pleasure of working on a private twenty five acre estate tending to the grounds.
In 2016, I joined the team at Thompson and Morgan in the Customer Care department.
Also season ticket holder at Ipswich Town Football Club!!

We are delighted to announce an exciting new relationship with one of the largest conservation charities in Europe: the National Trust.  With more than 200 gardens in the National Trust’s care, there is a natural synergy between the Trust’s nature ambitions and our products designed to encourage wildlife in our gardens.

This autumn a new range of plant seeds will be launched, offering customers the chance to bring the spirit of the National Trust into their gardens.

Joseph Cordy, Head of B2B Sales at Thompson & Morgan said:

‘We are delighted to be able to work with the National Trust to offer this new range. The National Trust and Thompson & Morgan share a lot of the same values, history and heritage and we know our customers are going to love the exciting new products we will be creating together’.

Clare Brown, Head of Brand Licensing for the National Trust adds:

‘We’re delighted to offer even more ways for our supporters to help nurture wildlife in their own gardens. These products will complement our existing garden and outdoor offering’.

More announcements about this exciting new range will follow soon.

Sonia Mermagen

Sonia works at Thompson & Morgan in the role of press and communications officer. She is a self-proclaimed ‘reluctant’ gardener and is generally amazed if anything flourishes in her garden. Sonia has a ‘hands off’ approach to gardening and believes that this helps to encourage bees, butterflies and other wildlife. (That’s her excuse anyway!)

www.thompson-morgan.com

Dear Gardeners,

Well if I thought February was dramatic, March can only be described as chaotic! I wanted to celebrate St David’s day, in my childhood home of St Davids, but The Beast from the East, arrived, along with his friend storm Emma, and between them they spoiled my plans. It snowed. A lot. We hadn’t had snow like that since 2010.

Pembrokeshire had some freezing nights and on the morning of the first predicted snowstorm I had to go to a heart rehabilitation session; the temperature outside at 9:00am showed -5°c. As a result we lost many garden plants, yet, the Chindoxia, more aptly named Glory of the Snow, benefited from the cold snap; they along with crocus, daffodils, grape hyacinth,bergnia and primroses bounced back and have flowered ever since.

The snow only stuck for two days, allowing me to meet up with one of my friends who I hadn’t seen in twenty years, she managed travel from Newcastle to attend her sister’s wedding. Spurred on by photos of the bride’s simple winter wildflower bouquet, I decided that I would abandon my plans for an all blue flower show this year, and try to grow as many plants as I can, to create little posies for the elderly ladies (and gents) at heart rehab class, as well as for the nurses and staff.

So I increasing my seed sowing. In the first week I planted, Sunflower Shock-o-lat, Velvet Queen and Marigold Strawberry Blonde. Food-wise I planted Red Onion –Red Baron, Classic Mint and Beetroot RaInbow Mix. These were all put in single cell propagators in “The Office.”

A week later, I moved my trial tomatoes (from the kitchen window) into the greenhouse along with the Yellow Stuffer ones. The latter being in the Heated Propagator after my Gardeners’ Delight failed. They failed as I used an ancient packet of seeds from Woolworths…Mark helped me sort out the greenhouses as the Cornflowers Black Ball, and Larkspurs needed transferring to the cold-frame for hardening off. He also dug poppies out of the borders of Ty Mawr and transplant them into a large pot on the patio.

T&M’s Coleus Canina (Scaredy Cat) plugs arrived a few days later, and I inadvertently picked the warmest day to pot them on. I wish I hadn’t! They had been confined for posting and with the heat through glass, the oils were particularly potent. I managed to transplant three quarters of them, but my eyes were stinging as was my nose. Never mind cats, the plants had already scared me. I got the others done the following day.

And then it snowed again. Luckily it was a dusting that only lasted twenty-four hours. In the third week I soaked sweetpea Turquoise Lagoon seeds overnight, then planted them the following day. By the Friday the Beetroot seedlings had grown in their makeshift propagator they needed thinning out and repotting.

As the photos show, a lot of my seeds are in recycled fruit boxes. I am choosing to grow them in these to

• a) reduce my plastic waste,
• b) save money as I still can’t return to work, which means that I cannot afford to spend as much as I used to on my hobby,
• c) I have run out of single cell seed propagators and
• d) because I want to show others that you don’t always need fancy equipment to grow things in.

I’ll be honest though I wasn’t sure if it would work, but evidently it does.

Last Monday I transplanted Cape Gooseberries, and Meconopsis Grande seedlings from the Heated Propagator into individual pots. In their place I have started a completely unscientific aubergine seed trial using Patio Mix seeds and Celine seeds, from three different companies

including T&M. I planted up the bright red fire bucket of chillies that my youngest brother gave me for Christmas. This is in addition to the chillies I set off last month. I had to abandon the Venidiums, Welsh Poppies and Echinacea as the compost went green and grew mossy. The contents were sprinkled in the hollyhock border, so perhaps they will grow there. That border hardly ever gets weeded as its a second wildflower border intercepted by dozens of hollyhocks, a Gogi and Tay Berry – both of which have never fruited. Plus there’s a Chinese Lantern shrub my other brother gave me. Also present are flowering daffodils and tulips.

Then add the daisies, buttercups and dandelions which are NOT weeds, but food for early pollinators. That afternoon I sowed some Radish, as well as more Hyssop as sadly ours died off. I am not sure if it was down to last year’s wet summer, the neighbours cats using our garden as a toilet or just that they were not big enough to go in the ground, even though they had outgrown the pots. Next I accidentally sowed a whole packet Buddleja, Reason being I still have chemo fingers and I can’t feel things properly, I was trying to open the seed packet with my fingers, As my hands were tired I didn’t feel the packet rip until it flew out of them and scattered 75 (on average, the label says,) seeds onto a waiting tub of compost. There was absolutely no point in me even trying to pick them out, my fingers were refusing to even pick up the packet. I was impressed that the seeds had gone in the tub though. I was going to plant some Lupins but didn’t remember I was supposed to soak them overnight so they will be done after Easter.Tuesday afternoon I sowed some Corriander, some French Marigolds, and Borage. I loved the marigolds last year and am thinking I really need to get some African Marigolds to add to my English and French display. Maybe I can have some instead of an Easter Egg. Hint, hint!

Finally the last thing I did in The Office was to transplant some sweet pepper seedlings from a pot in the kitchen that had the supermarket experimental seeds in. However, they didn’t grow,(the mini sweet peppers I got them from may be F1 hybrids) so I sowed some Orange Sweet pepper seeds that I had from a magazine last year. Only I think that the original seeds have now germinated as there are more peppers than there should be in the pot. So another totally unscientific experiment is taking place – lets see if I can spot the difference between two different types of peppers before they go in Ty Mawr or produce fruit.

I hope to continue sowing more seeds in April, my brother (youngest) gave me a funky veg kit, and I’m intrigued by its contents. There are six types of seeds including purple carrots. So The Office has many seeds, and baby plants It, as well as the things that have been overwintering. Foxgloves, primula, cornflowers, pot marigold, larkspur, Christmas Cacti, and lavender to name a few. Snow Princess marigolds are now in a wall planter outside. The Beast from the East destroyed the border in The Office, the subzero temperatures killed my money tree. There is a tiny bit left that I am hoping will regrow. It also killed one of the flowering house plants that was there too. I may put the Hibiscus that T&M gave me for Christmas in the border, as the pot sits atop it, but for now Mark added violas and a cornflower. The hibiscus got sunburnt on the top staging so it’s top leaves are pale and slightly crispy. I spotted the problem a bit late and now wondering where I can put it as its too big for the bungalow and won’t survive the westerly salty winds outside.

In Ty Mawr, I have marigolds starting to flower, cornflowers, shooting up, turnips that are growing by the day, and six grow bags of potatoes, that Mark had to constantly either has to earth up or water. The Vizella were slow to start off and I thought the weather had killed them, but as they are lates, I should have been more patient in expecting growth. The Maris Piper (second early) on the other hand have been strong from the start. I usually grow Charlotte’s but wanted a change this year.

The dahlias that are still wrapped in newspaper survived, being on the hanging shelves, but the baby money trees did not, neither did the cycleman or heather. My dad’s spider plant suffered badly, apart from two leaves, the rest was brown. I’ve cut the dead bits off and it needs repotting, but I am reluctant to do this in case I kill it altogether, I’ve already nearly lost his money tree.

Thankfully I still have his Christmas Cacti.

The whole borders need to be prepared for summer fruits, a job Mark will do next month, as well as build the tomato framework.

Until then.

Happy Gardening.

Love Amanda.

Amanda Davies

My name is Amanda and I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. I want to share with you my love for gardening and the reasons behind it, from the good to the bad and ugly. I want to do this for my own personal pleasure. If you would like to take the journey with me then please read my blogs and share with me your gardening stories.

As the UK’s best-known horticultural company, Thompson & Morgan is always at the cutting edge of plant innovation and welfare. We strive to give all our plants the best possible environments to grow in and we’re continually looking for new ways of bringing out the very best in our plants before we send them to our customers.

It was suggested in recent research that plants respond well to sound; from simple speech to complicated songs from all eras, so naturally we decided to put this to the test.

The results were quite astonishing!

In our trials, we have established quite quickly that today’s plants, using the latest breeding techniques, actually respond best to modern music. The results were so conclusive that our plant breeding team has set up a sound system in the polytunnels at our plant development site to play a daily Top Ten playlist to all the plants starting at midday when the sun is at its highest. At this time, the plants get maximum light and appear to be most receptive to the music.

Resident Music Expert and former DJ, Kevin Ketley, said:

It doesn’t surprise me that plants respond in this way to music. After all, it stimulates our brain activity and causes us to smile, tap our feet and so on, so plants will naturally grow better in that environment

The Top Ten Songs that our trials showed that plants are receptive to are:

1. Kiss From A Rose – Seal
2. Black Horse and A Cherry Tree – KT Tunstall
3. Iris – Goo Goo Dolls
4. I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) – Sandi Thom
5. Lemon Tree – Fools Garden
6. Where The Wild Roses Grow – Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue.
7. Flowers – Sweet Female Attitude
8. Supermarket Flowers – Ed Sheeran
9. Bed Of Roses – Bon Jovi
10. Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations

Interestingly, as you can see – and hear – the plants seem to respond better to songs that actually mention them! We feel this is really quite a breakthrough and our plant breeding team will be looking for new inspiration in the coming months – they hope to be able to increase yields on root crops by playing subterranean music!

Graham Ward

I’ve been gardening for as long as I can remember, my first earliest memory being planting seeds in my Grandfather’s prestige flower bed and having a prize lettuce growing there, which he proudly left to show everyone.

Since then, gaining knowledge and experience from both my Grandfather and my Father, I’ve continued to garden, both as a hobby and later on as a professional gardener and landscaper for 12 years. I love all aspects of it, from the design and build, to the planting out of summer borders with plants you’ve either grown from seed or raised from plugs. Unusual varieties always catch my eye and I’m keen to try growing them, even if sometimes it means learning from my mistakes.