Why Perennials for cutting?
Often perennials are overlooked in the cutting garden because they often have a more limited blooming period than their annual cousins. However it is a mistake to do so as they are lower maintenance because they come back year after year but also because there is such a splendid range of colour, form and texture that can transform a simple water holding vessel into a brilliant work of art.
Yes indeed my friends…ignore these and you ignore life itself…leave them from your vase and a bereft vase it will be…perhaps a never forgiving vase…a vase lost forever embittered and torn. You have been warned.
Perennial plants you can easily grow for cutting.
A fine example may be Chinese Lanterns (Physalis alkekengi in Geek). What a wonderful little performer she is dancing her merry way into your arrangement. In China it is said to help guide the souls of the deceased and rather unfortunately in some parts of England it is known as the Bladder Cherry. China 1 England 0. Its really easy to grow and if seeds are left on the plant add a great deal of winter interest.
Yarrow is another great, easy to grow perennial. It seems to be one of those plants which is either loved or loathed, we love it…but then we love most things…exept gerbera…grrr…grrrr. Yarrow has great feathery foliage and wonderful flat flower heads which bloom much longer than most perennials. Ladybirds (Ladybugs to our American chums) love the Yarrow which help keep aphids in check and as such can be planted as a natural garden defense system. Deer and rabbits won’t go near them so they will survive the most ungardened of gardens. They also dry well.
Echinacea is a plant we love at Higgledy for a plethora of reasons and we’ve written about it several times before. An abundance of flowers from midsummer through till the first frosts…great stuff. Again a fantastic plant for attracting butterflies into your garden. We think it goes really well with Yarrow in a vase and should last at least a week in the vase. Loads of new varieties and colours becoming available, but we like the purple vibe. Image credit, Wisdom of the Elders. (oli?)
These are just three to be thinking about, there are obviously a gazillion more and we will be talking about some if not all of them ( Thats a joke) in the future.
Gawd bless yer me lovelies!
Expanding Mandy x
Image credit. BlossomSwap
How to Plant a Cutting Garden : GardenTips411.com
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December 2, 2010 @ 6:01 pm
[…] and will last, as their name suggests, a single year, after which they will set seed and keel over. Perennials have adapted to get through the winters and last several years. If you are just taking up the […]
November 25, 2010 @ 7:37 pm
Heartily agree with all this perennial love! Only problem I have is space. The flowers I grow and sell are squeeeeezed into my garden borders, and the perennials are closing in on the space I have for annuals. Just need a field I guess. Until that day, my business will be fun but tiny.
As for the painted Tesco roses in previous post, well YUK and up the revolution! (Unless the whole post was a joke?? Can hardly believe it was true!)
November 25, 2010 @ 8:01 pm
Ha! No hand on heart the painted roses are really in Tesco…go and have a look. I was a little worried about writing about it, in case I was the only one who didn’t know this was a common practice!!!
As for a field…amazingly Higgledy has just been offered one close by, from a lovely local family who need it looking after for a while.
I have had trouble posting on your excellent blog ‘wild acre’. I get the same problem with a few blogspot blogs…it must be the way my machine is set up because it’s fine on other machines….I will sort this out.
Many Thanks for your interest….stay with us! x
November 25, 2010 @ 8:04 pm
PS If you are ever looking for a guest blogger or would yourself like to guest blog on Higgledy about either your flowers or other ‘pies’ then please be in touch. :)
November 26, 2010 @ 6:13 pm
Sorry you had trouble commenting at my gaff, the powers of the blogworld need to get tweaking their htmls or whatever slightly dodgy-sounding activity is required to dovetail the various blog providers/systems.
Well, I would be honoured to guest post at some point – thankyou, never been asked before, blush. Something along the lines of my “Love your kitchen table” post might work? But encouraging people to buy local flowers in November might be wasted breath – perhaps in the Spring? Or, I am a mighty fan of alliums so could post about them? Your call, obviously! Belinda
November 26, 2010 @ 11:42 pm
Hey Belinda…why not think about a post regarding what you do in the winter when NOT growing flowers…do a piece about your jewelry perhaps??? I’m sure you can weave a flower link in somehow. Congrats on finishing your first season growing…brilliant work.
My blogsphere friend Jan has just done a post….so how about one in about a week??? But of course I’ll work around you…basically whatever you want to writ about whenever you want to write it! …and a couple of pics would be great…
B x
November 28, 2010 @ 2:00 pm
Hi Ben, that would all be fine, but for next week rather than this one coming if that’s ok, I am trying to sort out a webpage this week (help!) and the first of my four kids has just gone down with a vile sick bug so I think my hands will be full (hopefully not literally!!). belinda