I’ve been looking back at this year’s cut flowers gardening trials and deciding what to grow next year.
There seems to have been a decidedly pink theme to this year’s gardening trials for cut flowers. I’m not sure it was intentional!
I’ve grown a few new things and several different varieties of old favourites such as cosmos. Many of them ended up in the borders as well as in the cutting garden when lockdown saw me filling my new deck bed with anything I could.
Not everything survived the attentions of the garden’s resident slugs and snails – zinnias seem to be a particular favourite – so some will have to be tried again next year.
I was given seed in return for a fair review.
It was the first time I’d grown Callistephus chinensis, (also known as China or annual asters) in fact, I confess I’d not even heard of it before. Chiltern Seeds kindly provided two varieties for me to try – ‘Duchesse Apricot’ and ‘Matsumoto Apricot’.
The ‘Duchesse Apricot’ is described as having pinky-apricot blooms but they turned out to be more pink than I expected. The curved petals gave the flowers the look of a chrysanthemum and certainly made for a striking addition to the borders.
‘Matsumo Apricot’ had a distinctive yellow centre and smaller flowers. I did like the colour though, which had a more peachy hue.
Both varieties made good cut flowers and I also liked them in the borders.
In last year’s gardening trials, I trialled Antirrhinum majus ‘Chantilly Bronze’ from Chiltern Seeds. It was the first time I’d grown snapdragons for many years and they were a great success. This year, I decided to give the ‘Chantilly Light Pink’ a try.
I find antirrhinum challenging as cut flowers but only because I’m loathe to pick them when there are still a lot of buds to open, as I find these never develop fully once cut.
Having said that, these have been really good value in the borders and flowered even through the first frosts.
The pink was a good clear colour but I do have a preference for the bronze tints of ‘Chantilly Bronze’.
I’ve long grown cosmos and this year tried a couple of different varieties. ‘Double Click Mixed’ from Chiltern Seeds was a mixed packet of double varieties ranging from deep pink to the palest pink blush.
Pretty, good as cut flowers and great for filling space in a border.
Calendula are one of my favourite flowers, cheerful and so tough they seem to shrug off even the worst weather.
Burpee Seeds, which supplies many of the big retail companies, sent me African marigold (Tagetes erecta) ‘Mission Giant Yellow’ to try.
This is much bigger than the English pot marigold and made quite a statement in the border. It was strong growing and produced a lot of flower. Unlike calendula, it did die off once the weather turned.
Another splash of sunshine this year came from Cosmos ‘Pollidor’. This seed from Thompson & Morgan was a free gift with an issue of Garden News.
It’s supposed to produce orange and lemon shades but mine all turned out orange, not that I’m complaining. They were a real mood-lifter and worked well as cut flowers.
I’d spotted annual salvia, Salvia viridis, on a visit to Jekka’s Herb Farm and was interested to try it. Jekka had the pink and purple variety but I spotted ‘White Swan’ in the Chiltern Seeds’ catalogue and decided to buy some.
This has been a real trouper, flowering for months and still going strong, despite the recent frosts. It’s not the easiest thing to use as cut flowers but is fantastic as a filler in the border. Definitely one to grow again next year.
And that’s where I am now. Looking through seed catalogues and planning for the next season. I’ve already spotted a few new things to try, perhaps they will become old favourites.
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