The Flower Farmers’ Big Weekendgoes digital over 14–16 August, taking flower-lovers behind the scenes of ‘Flowers from the Farm’ to meet the independent, artisan growers of British cut flowers. Here, leading Flower Farmers pick their favourite seasonal blooms to liven up any floral arrangement.
Over this year’s virtual festival, Flowers from the Farm will publish a collection of short films on the art of flower farming.Shot at the allotments, back gardens, farms, smallholdings and walled gardens of flower farmers, these free videos, together with a daily Flowers Farmers’ Question Time, will bring the British cut flower movement to life.
This month is a busy one for flower farmers, as annuals and late summer perennials come into their own in August. The ‘Flower Focus’ film series for the Big Weekend highlights the late summer favourites of four expert flower farmers. With hundreds of British cut flowers to choose from, which blooms will they select?
Flower Farmers reveal their favourite flowers:
Dahlias – Philippa Stewart, Justdahlias
You may struggle to find a flower farm that doesn’t grow dahlias at this time of year, but Philippa Stewart has taken matters a few steps further with ‘Justdahlias’. This Cheshire flower farmis exclusively dedicated to cultivating her favourite flower, the beautiful dahlia.
Philippa grows 450 dahlia plants in over 150 varieties to sell as freshly cut flowers to local florists. She also retails dried dahlias by nationwide delivery.
“Once you start growing dahlias,” says Philippa, “you realise there are thousands of varieties to discover in a huge range of shapes, colours, sizes and styles, from singles, collarettes, anemones, water-lily, cactus, semi-cactus, decorative and dinner-plate.”
Ask Philippa to choose a favourite variety and she struggles. “Being asked to choose a favourite dahlia is like being asked to choose a favourite child! I do love the colour and shape of Dahlia_‘_Caroline Wagemans**’**, with itssmaller waterlily form that dries beautifully.
_“_Dahlia ‘Café au Lait’ is one of the most popular wedding flowers. Its blooms are 22cm in diameter, which is a bouquet in itself! On the other end of the scale,‘Linda’s Baby’ is just 6cm in diameter and the perfect ball form for buttonholes.”
Foliage – Zanna Hoskins, Spindle Flowers
Alongside the flower beds on her 1.5 acre plot in West Dorset, Zanna Hoskins has cultivated a veritable forest of foliage for ‘Spindle Flowers’. Zanna explains: “As a florist, I’m interested in longevity in the vase; I’m interested in shape, texture, colour and scent. But, as a grower, I’m interested in how long things take to reach productivity.”
“I want to offer my florists good, local, environmentally sustainable alternatives to imported foliages for as much of the year as I can. We can’t reach around the seasons completely, but we get close. I grow shrubs that blossom or have unusual young bud forms in spring, followed perhaps by colourful berries or leaves in autumn.”
Foliage is the unsung hero of floristry. It adds structure, movement, seasonality and naturalism to a design. Understanding which foliages to use at which time of year is key: too soft and it won’t last in the vase, too old and the leaves will be too fragile or drop easily.
“The beauty of specialising in wild and unusual foliages is that you see the seasons change before your eyes.Different foliages come into their own at different times of the year. My favourite changes with the seasons.
“I love Crataegus (Hawthorn). We grow 12 different kinds of Crataegus in the field. Abeliophyllum (White Forsythia) is another favourite, with its beautiful spring blossom that smells of honey. Rosa glauca has beautiful dark stems. And, of course, I named my business after Euonymus europaeus (Spindleberry). Its berries turn bright pink in autumn and have lovely orange pips inside.”
Sunflowers –Anna Brian, Flowers by Anna Brian
On her two acre smallholding in the Worcestershire countryside, Anna Brian grows annuals and perennials for local florists, markets and farm shops as well as weddings and events. Despite the wide range of blooms she grows, there’s no doubting Anna’s favourite flower.
“Just look how cheerful, happy and vibrant sunflowers look,” enthuses Anna of the half acre she dedicates solely to the lovely yellow blooms. “We love a patch of sunflowers. They just look so happy and cheer everybody up!”
“I’ve been growing sunflowers for around 15 to 20 years now. We grow them for cut flowers and leave them over winter so birds can feed on their seeds. We’ve been selling sunflowers at the farmgate since we started, and local people love to stop by to pick up a bunch.”
Anna’s passion for Helianthus and her florist’s eye inspires her to feature interesting and unusual forms. “We grow about 12 varieties. One of my favourites isHelianthus annus ‘Valentine’, a pale yellow sunflower with a dark centre. You get several flowers per stem, and it re-branches once cut. This means a successional crop!
“Helianthus annus ‘Italian White’ has a smaller head and is also a branching type. The petals are long and fine, making it excellent for buttonholes. ‘Marley’ has a mottled red to pale yellow colour. It’s really quite unusual and very popular in bunches.‘Claret’ is a beautiful Burgundy colour.”
Sweet peas – Zara Gordon Lennox,Gordon Castle
Within the magnificent 8-acre walled garden at Gordon Castle in North-East Scotland, Zara Gordon Lennox has created four long cut flower beds which brim with gorgeous annuals and perennials come August. Zara and her team cut from the beds for retail bunches, bouquets and wholesale orders. Florists are even allowed to pick their own flowers by arrangement.
“We colour theme our cut flower beds because, unlike a commercial flower farm, we are open to the public seven days a week and our beds need to look beautiful,” Zara explains. “We grow about 15,000 annual plug plants in these beds, which are approximately 15 metres long by 2 metres wide.”
The ’Golden Peat’ flower bed is full of the fiery yellows, oranges and reds with the likes of Dahlia ‘Karma Choc’, Calendula officinalis ‘Indian Prince’ andPapaver ‘Black Swan’. Meanwhile, the ‘Icy Glen’ bed hosts the pure whites, greens and soft yellows that are popular at weddings,‘Glowing Heather’ displays soft pinks and purples and ‘Scotch Thistle’ buzzes with blues and purples.
“We also grow a massive range of sweet peas in the walled garden. We have a full row in each of the four beds. This makes for 60 metres of sweet pea in total! We use them in the cafe, in the holiday cottages and also in the guest rooms of the castle. We put beautifully scented sweet peas in every bedroom. My particular favourites include the deep maroon Lathyrus odoratus ‘Windsor’ and Lathyrus odoratus ‘Cathy’.”
In the video below, Zara takes a tour of the spectacular cutting garden she has created at Gordon Castle:
To watch the videos from the flower farmers featured in this article, visitflowersfromthefarm.co.uk.
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