Flowers for mum

Gorgeous scented daffodils in mum's special Portmeirion vase have made life in a nursing home a little bit better. 

I've referred to my Flowers for mum project a few times, but not really explained what it's about. Since she's been in a nursing home, I've vowed to keep mum in fresh flowers for as long as she stays there.

It also means I'm going to grow cut flowers for the first time. Until now, I've preferred to view my flowers in my garden, particularly as they bloom for longer that way. However, I received such a strong reaction from mum when she had her first bunch of flowers, it's seems a simple yet effective way to make her life a little bit better.

She also reacts strongly to bright colours and scents, so that's informed my selection of what to grow for her, along with lots of hints and tips gleaned from Georgie when she gave a talk at Bath University Gardening club late last year.

My growing list for this year:

  • Lavender
  • Sweet peas - the more scented the better
  • Alstroemeria - already grown at the allotment
  • Cosmos
  • Cornflowers
  • Dahlias - some growing already, with an extra supplement of pink/purple cactus blooms I like the look of
  • Calendula marigolds
  • Foliage and herbs from the garden - whatever's to hand and in abundance
Most of these will be grown on the allotment and until I can pick my own from my cut flower patch, I'll have to improvise! I've decided on a relatively simple yet productive list for this year, whilst I acquire - I hope - some cut flower growing skills. How to extend the season beyond summer/autumn will be my next quest. 

Note I won't be growing any daffodils... I love buying them from our British flower farmers who have the space to grow the hundreds of blooms needed to cheer both me and mum up during the dark winter months.

What special projects do you have under way this year?

Comments

  1. Lea18 April 2017 at 11:40

    What a beautiful thing to do for your mother
    Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sue Garrett18 April 2017 at 12:08

    What's about some cornflowers . They are easy and last a while in a vase? Then there are the out of fashion gladioli.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP18 April 2017 at 14:14

      Cornflowers were on my initial list and may still make an appearance. I've decided to restrict what I grow this year, then add in others as my experience grows. Finding time for everything is still quite a challenge (I've just learned mum needs extensive physio every day and it's not available on the NHS), so I've gone with a list that's achievable rather than going for everything and then beating myself up for failing to deliver.

      Delete
    2. VP18 April 2017 at 14:55

      Just realised - I have cornflowers on the list already. I am a bear with a very little brain at the moment ;)

      Delete
  3. Jenny H.18 April 2017 at 12:42

    Wonderful idea and way to give your mother a little bit of beauty and your heart at the same time!

    One of my favorite cut flowers, and so easy to grow, are shasta daisies. 'Becky' or 'Alaska' perform great for me here in Baltimore, MD, US, not sure if those are good in your climate. They last a week or so in a vase and have strong, straight stems. And are so bright and cheery! no scent, unfortunately.

    Good luck with your project!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP18 April 2017 at 14:16

      I have shasta daisies self-sown in my back lawn Jenny! I may pick these... the season's not that long over here, and as I've restricted the list quite a bit, I've gone for flowers with a long picking season.

      Delete
  4. Lorraine Pullen18 April 2017 at 14:53

    I would also think about some sunflowers especially multi headed which I can send you some seeds for, or zinnias, both have interesting texture as well as very bright varied colours... They are also both late season flowers, here I still have them in the cutting patch in November..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2017 at 22:41

      Thanks Lorraine - they're on the possibles list for next year :)

      Delete
  5. Flighty18 April 2017 at 15:02

    A lovely idea and a good list of flowers. I would add sunflowers too. xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mud, Cakes and Wine18 April 2017 at 21:35

    What a stunning idea. We are growing some flowers for my husband to take to his fathers grave as it feels personal. I look forward to see how it goes. Flowers are amazing xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2017 at 22:44

      That's exactly it - it feels personal :) There is so little I can do for mum, so it's good to have something that's positive

      Delete
  7. AlisonC19 April 2017 at 20:09

    Hello, a brilliant and lovely idea. It will bring you both joy. I've been growing flowers for cutting for quite a few years and the two I would recommend as staples are Cosmos and Rudbekia. Both easy to grow, flower for months and last well in a vase. 'Rustic Dwarfs' are my favourite rudbekia. I see you have a plan but these are such good value I had to mention it! Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2017 at 22:46

      Hi Alison, welcome to Veg Plotting! I don't seem to have much luck with Rudbeckia as it doesn't last that long in my garden. My allotment neighbour grows lots of fab cosmos, so I'mhoping I fare better than I did with Xanthos last year :)

      Delete
  8. AlisonC21 April 2017 at 16:18

    Oh that's a shame, it's a stalwart here. Having said that my seeds are very slow so far. Fingers crossed for your cosmos.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anna30 April 2017 at 21:40

    A lovely project Michelle which will give both of you much pleasure. I think that flowers are also easier for the staff at the home to manage. My mum's pot plants suffered from too much watering when she was in residential care. Stocks are hard to beat for scent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP7 May 2017 at 12:33

      The home gave mum bulbs for Christmas and they soon ran out of steam due to lack of water!

      Delete
  10. Caro3 May 2017 at 01:38

    Extending the season is going to be a tough one as your mum likes bold colours but it's such a lovely idea and I imagine fresh flowers will cheer up the staff as well as your mum. Would you have room for some perennial asters? I was given Aster var. pringlei 'Monte Cassino' last year, it flowers right up to the frosts and is good for repeat cutting. It would save on having to spend time tending seedlings. I wish your mum well with her physio. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP7 May 2017 at 12:34

      I already have perennial asters in the garden :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more