Sally Brown (read her Real Gardener story) keeps her vases filled all year round. Here are her tips and a few of her favourite flowers:
- To prolong vase life, keep them cool. Once a flower is picked it lasts twice as long if its in a cool place. I end up with a lot of flowers in my bathroom, because the rest of my house gets too sunny!
- To make any arrangement look last longer, you can recut the stems, remove fading bloom and change the water daily. But if you have a garden full of flowers, it’s just as easy to go out and pick some more. Add the spent flowers to the compost heap on your way past.
- Collect flower vessels of all sizes. Jugs make wonderful flower vases. I have lots of gorgeous jugs of all different shapes and sizes. Otherwise I love large glass and crystal vases.
- Don’t worry too much about symmetry. Garden flowers look great when arranged loosely, as if they’re still growing.
Something for every season
Early spring
Cherry blossom, daphne, daffodils, forsythia, hellebores, tulips, viburnums, wallflowers
Mid spring
Allium, alstroemerias, crabapple, delphinium, gaura, lilac, peonies, Queen Anne’s Lace,
Late spring and Summer
Chrysanthemum, cosmos, delphinium, gladioli, mignonette (Reseda odorata), nigella (Love-in-a-mist), peonies, roses, scabiosa, snapdragons, sweet peas, zinnia
Late summer and autumn
Achillea, asters, dahlias, echinops, helianthus, hydrangea, miscanthus grass, salvia, sedum(Autumn Joy), perovskia, phlox, Verbena bonariensis
Winter
Cornus Alba, daphne, early daffodils, Garrya elliptica, hellebores, Lily of the Valley, protea, snowdrops, wintersweet, witch hazel
Foliage
Camellia, coprosma, eucalyptus, leucadendron, magnolia (evergreen), Myrtus Red Dragon, nandina, pittosporum
