This week, we had to grow LARKSPUR.

LARKSPUR is one of the quintessential cottage garden flowers. You see these tall stately spikes of blooms swaying in the breeze in gardens across the country. In fact you probably remember them from your grandparents garden, like I do. They have a beautiful pastel palette colour, ranging from dusty pinks to a gorgeous inky blue.

Larkspur are members of the Delphinium family. There are many varieties of Larkspur, so it should not surprise you that they range in height from one to seven feet.

Larkspur are started from seed. Directly sow Larkspur seeds into your flower garden after all danger of frost.
Sow seeds early in the season and cover lightly with soil. Space them 10cm apart and thin seedlings to 25-30cm apart.

Larkspur plants like full sun to partial shade. They are very easy to grow (unless you try to stat them off in a greenhouse like I did!) and grow rapidly. They do well in average soils and in cool weather. The soil needs to be kept moist to feed their quick growth.Water them during dry periods, once or twice per week. Add a general purpose fertilizer once a month until after they have bloomed.

Cut blooms just before they peak. Place in vase and arrange with other flowers, or alone by themselves.Once your Larkspur plants are established, they will grow well until the first frost.

TIP
LARKSPUR make great dried flowers. Try tying a bunch together and hanging them up to dry.

LARKSPUR CHALLENGE

In this challenge, we had to use our LARKSPUR to make a bound bouquet.
The idea of this, is to have one central spike of foliage with a ball of string tied to it. You then add your flowers a couple at a time, while winding the string around to hold it all together. When you’re finished, you can either leave it as it is (rustic). Or, you can cover the string with ribbon or raffia for a more ‘finished’ look.

Varieties of LARKSPUR I grew for the show –

• FROSTED SKIES – A unique flower colour amongst Larkspurs. Distinctive large semi double flowers of white with a blue/purple edge.
• STOCK MIXED – Slender stems of double flowers in beautiful blending pastel colours.

In this episode, we had to show LILIES.

Asiatic and Oriental LILIES are the two most popular types of lilies for growing in your garden.

Asiatic lilies are among the easiest to grow. They’re very hardy, need no staking, and are not particularly fussy about soil, as long as it drains well.
Oriental lilies have become increasingly popular, due to their large, exotic (often frilly) blooms and heavy, sweet perfume.

Lilies provide an easy to grow, colorful addition to your garden. By choosing a combination of early, mid-season, and late-blooming varieties, you can have lilies in flower all summer long.These hardy bulbs require only minimal care. Each has the capacity to grow, eventually, into an large cluster of flowering stems.

Asiatic and Oriental lilies grow best in full sunlight. They need six to eight hours of direct sunlight in order to perform well. They’ll grow taller, more spindly, and floppier in reduced light, so make sure they get all the sun you can give them.

I like to plant my lilies in large pots on the patio, this allows you to move them around into the sun. It also allows you to move them nearer to your patio table or BBQ when people come around for drinks, making it a great atmosphere and focal point for conversation.

LILY CHALLENGE

This week, we had to make a ‘floral candelabra’.
Securing the wet floral foam to the candelabra was a little tricky. I had to make sure the foam was cut to the right shape without crushing it. If you crush/compact floral foam, it’s really hard to get the flowers into it and they cant get any water, so they wilt quicker.

Just be careful where you place the flowers at the top of the candelabra. Remember, the candles will burn all the way down, and you don’t want singed lilies!

Varieties of LILY I grew for the show –

• STARGAZER – is a hybrid lily of the Oriental group. It’s best known for it’s fragrant perfume, blooming mid-to-late summer. STARGAZERS are easy to grow and do best in full sunlight.
• EXTRAVAGANZA – This lily produces huge bright white flowers that are elegant and fragrant. The centre is covered in raspberry pink speckles and spots. This is the lily you can see me with, in the greenhouse photo.

This week is all about RUDBECKIA.

Annual RUDBECKIA are rewarding plants to grow from seed. One packet will yield more plants than most of us can cope with.

RUDBECKIA are native to the grass lands and prairies of the US, where they self seed and spread easily.

They come in all shades of yellow, reds and pink. Most have a black or brown pronounced cone in the centre. This led to their common name of, ‘Black Eyed Susan’. However, some varieties have a lime green central ‘button’ rather than the dark cone. Some have a dark brown, or reddish disc of colour at the bottom of the petals, giving them an almost sunflower look. This isn’t really that surprising, as they come from the same family. All RUDBECKIA love to be drenched in the sun to perform to their best.

RUDBECKIA need a sunny spot with well-drained soil. Sow indoors in spring to plant out after the last frost. Mildew can be an issue on the foliage, so avoid overhead watering and don’t crowd the plants. This also gives better blooms, as there aren’t as many plants competing for the nutrients in the soil.

Varieties of RUDBECKIA I grew for the show –

• GLORIOSA DAISY – The typical ‘black eyed Susan’. Sunshine yellow petals, with a dark brown central cone, topped with the beautiful golden brown.
• IRISH SPRING – Large daisy like flowers, with deep golden yellow petals and a lime green central button.
• BRILLIANT STAR – Beautiful bright rose coloured petals on a large daisy flower, prominent central discs.

RUDBECKIA CHALLENGE

This weeks challenge was to produce a stacked flower pot arrangement.
Firstly, I had to build the structure using the pots, floral foam and a central cane to secure it all together. I had to line each pot with a plastic bag, so the water from the foam didn’t seep into the terracotta and show on the outside as a stain. Then it was a case of choosing what to put in the pots. I went for sunflowers, zinnia, calendula and roses, as they all had a similar palette and look good together. I also used a lot of fragrant herbs as greenery. Rosemary, fennel, tarragon and bay all featured in the design. I then used a large spike of amaranthus called ‘Tower Hamlets’, from the Heritage Seed Library, to finish off the top of the arrangement.

It’s all about HELICHRYSUM in the semi-final!

HELICHRYSUM, often called straw flowers or Everlasting Daisy, are native to Australia. In fact, these rustling little beauties are considered wildflowers there. In other countries, specifically in Britain, HELICHRYSUM are grown by gardeners because of their charming beauty and dried flower potential. HELICHRYSUM belong to the daisy family.

Among the most beautiful annual flowers in the garden, HELICHRYSUM look like dried flowers even while growing. Their unique feel and vibrant, colorful blooms look like they have been sprayed with varnish.

HELICHRYSUM are easy to grow, sun-loving annuals that are drought-tolerant and perfect for hot, dry areas of the garden. Let them dry out between watering. They don’t like to be transplanted, so it’s a good idea to choose a permanent location where they can remain for the entire summer.

Sow thinly on the top of seed compost, don’t exclude the light. Use a propagator or a clear bag over the tray. Transplant to fiber pots to reduce the risk of root disturbance.

Varieties of HELICHRYSUM I grew for the show bench –

• DOUBLE MIXED – A tall mixed variety, ranging in colour from pink, red, yellow, orange to white. Very popular and good reliable flower producer.
• ROSE BEAUTY – Compact type. A very showy everlasting flower with a bushy habit and clusters of pink flowers. See photo below.

For The Final, we had to grow PERPETUAL CARNATIONS

PERPETUAL CARNATIONS produce the largest blooms in a wide variety of colors. They get their name from their ability to bloom year-round. Perpetual carnations can survive winter with some protection. They need to be grown in a protected environment such as a sunny indoor room, a greenhouse or outdoors under a polytunnel
.
When growing perpetual carnations, they should have all but the central flower stripped off. This allows the plant to put all its energy into producing one, large, stunning bloom.

Unfortunately, when we filmed the show, I got totally confused with my carnations. I bought border carnations, which you can grow outside. Don’t get me wrong, they produce amazing flowers as well, its just not a perpetual carnation.

THE FINAL CHALLENGE

The floral vase had a twist this week. Jonathan changed his mind at the last minute, he asked us to present one carnation and two other flowers. These other flowers could not be ones that we’d grown for any other challenge. Basically, Jonathan was assessing us on, if we grew all our flowers to show standard, or if we just concentrated on specific ones we’d being told to grow.

My three show flowers –

• CARNATION – I chose to show one of my border carnations. It was a brilliant specimen, no damage and a beautiful flower.
• COSMOS, ‘DOUBLE CLICK’ – I’d being using this flower for weeks in my arrangements. It had performed amazingly in the allotment, so I thought I would allow it to shine for itself. Cosmos are very cottage garden flowers, this variety is a beautiful pink. Its a double flower, so instead of the usual single petals, this one has an inner flower. It almost looks like an open rose. They have feathery greenery to them and a slim long neck. Elegance personified!
• SUNFLOWER, SOLAR FLASH – These sunflowers are tiny compared to some of the giants you can grow. They grow 1m high at the most. I grow them in old buckets on my allotment, then you can move them around to give colour where its needed. The flowers grow to the size of a saucer. The petals are yellow, changing to a deep red/brown as they get towards the centre. They make amazing little plants in a border or pots on the patio.

THE FLORAL ARCH

The last challenge was the biggest!!!!! It was to decorate an arch, not just a little tiny arch, but a huge arch I could walk through (I’m 6 foot 3!).
The arch would be judged from 360 degrees, so we had to make sure that both the front and back were decorated.
I wanted my arch to match my vase, so I made sure I picked lots of the same flowers. I had lots of different varieties of sunflower and cosmos. Plus, I’d picked all my carnations to use as well. Whats the point leaving any flowers on the allotment, this is the final and I wanted to use EVERYTHING I’d grown on my plot.

I tried to make my arch flow, I used ivy to connect the different clusters of flowers together, and tried to make it all look as natural as possible.
I was very conscious of a focal point, and as I’m so tall, I always look at the top of things. Thats why I made sure to make the sunflower spectacular at the top of the arch, right in the centre. After all, this is where your eye is drawn too. The sunflowers really worked, they looked amazing and really shouted out SUMMER!

Overall, it was a really tough challenge, but I loved it! It really tested how we grew flowers, but also how we used them, and how we interpreted our allotments!