SUMMER CUTTING GARDENS

WORDS KAY MONTGOMERY

SUMMER A beautiful bouquet for an apartment, a pretty posy for a friend CUTTING or a country bunch for your house; plan a summer cutting garden GARDENS

In THE VICTORIAN era, in order not to deplete the ornamental gardens of wealthy land owners, separate areas, usually walled, were set aside for cut floral material to decorate in their stately homes. In many of today’s properties, where garden space is limited, borders would quickly become depleted if plants were picked for floral work. The answer is to set aside part of your garden as a cutting garden where you can grow your favourite flowers for the vase.

THE RIGHT PLACE

The cutting garden is a functional garden where appearances are not important; where seasonal annuals, perennials and bulbs are grown in a variety of colours, shapes and textures.

Screen the area from the rest of the garden with shrubs for picking that can also act as a windbreak. A trellis screen can be both decorative and practical as support for climbing roses, clematis and sweet peas.

There is a wider choice of plant material if the cutting garden gets five to six hours of sunshine a day, with easy access to beds and water.

Soil should be free-draining with generous amounts of compost and a slow-release fertiliser to keep plants healthy through the season. Refresh the soil when planting new crops.

A grid of squared wire stretched across plants and attached to stakes will keep flowers upright.

Pelargonium leaves make attractive edgings for posies and table arrangements. Pictured, Pelargonium exotica ‘Tricolor’. PICTURE: LUKAS OTTO

Clematis does well as a cut flower. Clean off stems to ensure that no leaves are in the water. PICTURE: JENNY SIMPSON

TOP: A contrasting colour palette in the garden is eye-catching and some flowers can be snipped and enjoyed indoors in a vase. PICTURE: NEIL HEPWORTH

ABOVE: Dahlias can be used as cut flowers. Dalina Midi Pinta. PICTURE: LUKAS OTTO

ABOVE Choose an agapanthus flower head with some closed buds – these will open in the vase. PICTURE: LUKAS OTTO attached to stakes will keep flowers upright.

THE FLOWER PALETTE

In today’s floral world, there is a move from formal to natural and free-flowing, using flowers for a lighter touch and being adventurous with colour. Flowers with dark-plum burgundy and maroon foliage add depth and shadows to arrangements.

Flowers for summer:

Seed is the cheapest way to grow cut flowers. Some can be sown in situ, which simply means sowing directly into the ground where they are to flower.

Seed:

Clary sage (Salvia horminum), cosmos, baby’s breath (Gypsophila elegans), lavatera, marigold, salvia, sunflower, viscaria and zinnia.

Seedlings:

Aster, celosia, cleome, dianthus, echinacea, nicotiana, penstemon, Shasta daisy and zinnia.

Perennials and bulbs:

Achillea, agapanthus, alstroemeria, arum, canna, crocosmia, torch lilies (Kniphofia spp.), eucomis, gerbera, hosta, liliums, tuberose and watsonia.

Dahlias are invaluable as cut flowers, for their range of colours and flower shapes, and tubers planted now will continue to flower well into autumn. Insert sturdy stakes when planting.

Early morning is the best time to cut flowers. Take a bucket of water into the cutting garden, make clean cuts with a sharp knife or secateurs and place cut stems in water.

THE FOLIAGE PALETTE

The following foliage is useful for outlines and fillers: the arching stems of abelia; the fine yellow or green foliage of coleonema; dark green needles of rosemary; colourful croton and leucadendron; ferny heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica); silver-grey artemisia; bold leaves of hosta, canna and arum; vertical leaves of iris and New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) and the whorled stems of lion’s ear (Leonotis leonurus) and phlomis (Jerusalem sage).

Scented geranium (pelargonium) leaves make attractive edgings for posies and table arrangements. Ferns, provided the fronds are mature when picked and the cut ends seared, last well.

TOP: A cutting garden provides flowers in different colours, shapes and sizes for picking. PICTURE: LOUISE JENNER-CLARKE

ABOVE: Climbing roses grown on trellis can be used to screen off a section of the garden. PICTURE: KAY MONTGOMERY

ABOVE LEFT: Asparagus fern grows well in light shade and fronds can be used as greenery in a vase. Pictured, ‘Green Ripple’. PICTURE: LUKAS OTTO

FORAGING

Seeking plant material can open a new world of floral possibilities and perhaps spark a trend or innovative idea in the floral industry.

It becomes personal when you gather each part of your design, always leaving some flowers for pollinating insects and seeds for wildlife. Material that at first appears to have no merit can have unexpected qualities.

Search for branches for height and interesting outlines; curly ends of pride of De Kaap (Bauhinia galpinii); loops of dried wisteria stems; grass plumes and tassels; sprays of berries and fruits; feathery fennel; pine cones; palm spathes; feathers; seed heads and pods.

Foraging should be done ethically and legally and always with the permission of the landowner. It is illegal to remove plants growing on public and private property and in the wild.

Not only are you depleting and destroying wild plant habitats, you are also depriving future generations of their floral inheritance.