Flowers from the Plot

What an exciting day Valentine's Day was this year not only with orders to complete, but also to get ready for ITV West to come and film me.   They were interested in whether customers care where their flowers come from and do they prefer to buy British.   Laura was a great reporter and put me at ease, which is not easy as I am not one for being in front of the camera! These anemones were some of my home grown flowers for Valentine's Day bouquets that appeared on ITV West News

 I was more nervous watching the News that evening than I was during filming but the flowers looked amazing and lots of compliments flowed in after the programme and my autograph has been asked for a couple of times!  My flowers were supplemented by Narcissi, Tulips and Alstroemeria sourced from Cornwall, we have lovely Pussy Willow growing in abundance on the farm which together with Catkins gave a wonderful feeling of Spring.

Spring, it doesn't feel as if we have had a Winter yet, but it is the time of year to think of sowing seeds and my order of new Dahlia tubers will be arriving soon.  This gorgeous 'Yankee Doodle' dahlia, appearing here in a competition entitled 'Tea at the Ritz', was one I grew from seed.   Growing dahlias from seed is great fun as you are never really sure what you are going to get, so if you know you want a specific colour it is better to buy the tubers of a named dahlia.  When I first started I couldn't resist sowing some Dahlia seeds called 'Clangers Mix', the name appealed because I am very good at dropping clangers!  They flowered so well in their first season with good stem length and the element of surprise of what each one was going to look like led to some fun, creative bouquets.

This arrangement shows a few of the 'Clangers' dahlias in an old milk carton covered in fabric, I do love to up-cycle whenever I can and either make or find unusual containers for my flowers. Well that's another whole story and maybe next time I will be able to show you some of my ideas.  For now, I have to concentrate on planning the new cut flower beds and sowing seeds in my new greenhouse. It's not quite finished yet but still a wonderful treat after managing in a shed with a plastic roof for the last couple of years!