Favourite flowery combinations of the year: part 2

Hurrah! We have passed the shortest day, the light will start slowly returning. Gosh its so dark in the mornings, its not light till after 8am, I really hate that and driving back home from Bluebell in the dark. I’ll be so glad when it gets a bit lighter at night. Its been very wet here in Lancashire with 2 days of non-stop rain last week. The reservoirs will definitely be topped up now. Thankfully this week has been a bit drier and there are definite signs of new life in my garden with the spiky tips of snowdrops pushing their way up through the soil and some of the early Hellebores are in flower or budding nicely. I’ve been doing some more sorting through my photos for more of my favourite  flower combinations that I have loved this year

It was my first time growing Candytuft ‘Crown’ this year and I was really impressed with it. It was grown from an autumn sowing and came through the winter well. I grew it in a raised bed in my cutting garden with Orlaya grandiflora and what a lovely combination that made, both flowering at the same time. Here it is in combination with the dark flowers of Cornflower ‘Black Ball’ and Sweet William ‘Nigricans’, the pale pink Knautia ‘Melton Pastels’ and Allium roseum, and the vibrant green of Alchemilla mollis.

One of the most unusual flowers that I’ve used in arrangements this year has been Bupleurum longifolium ‘Bronze Beauty’ which I used in a couple of different arrangements. Here it is with Alchemilla mollis, Corncockle ‘Bianca’ the gorgeous white Corncockle (hopefully we will be bringing that into the shop in the new year), Feverfew and Cornflower ‘Black Ball’.

I love a blue and yellow combo, and the stars of this arrangement is the beautiful Cornflower ‘Blue Ball’, with Calendula ‘Snow Princess’, Corncockle ‘Bianca’ and double Feverfew.

Merging into summer and the Cosmos are the the prolific flower in my cutting patch. Here we have three of the Higgledy varieties, Cosmos ‘Fizzy Rose’, Cosmos ‘Apricotta’ and Cosmos ‘Double Click Cranberries’ (coming back in the shop very soon), along with a newcomer to Higgledy this year, the gorgeous Lavatera ‘Mont Blanc’ which was a great new variety in my cutting patch. A bit of Ammi visnaga, Origanum and the weird and wacky Limonium suworowii.

Finally into autumn I love all the yellows in the garden, Sunflower ‘Valentine’, Rudbeckia ‘Marmalade’, Zinnias and Inula hookeri. With lots of Ammi visnaga my faourite filler, Cosmos ‘Purity’ and a splash of blue from

 

 

 

Well thats it, I’m enjoying having a bit of down time catching up with people, sorting out in the house and other hobbies, but I still like to get out in the garden for a couple of hours when the weather allows and just doing a bit of pottering. There is much less pressure at this time of year but it can be so satisfying getting wrapped up and ticking off a few more jobs. Cutting back perennials as they die back, mulching the borders, tidying round the greenhouse and clearing beds ready for next year there are things to do. Usually the robins and the blackbirds are around when I’m weeding or mulching which is lovely to see. In my mind I’m also planning a bit for next year, thinking about where I’m planting my autumn sown annuals and sweet peas. Maybe I need to move a few perennials around, lots of notes and reminders going in my diary.

But Christmas will soon be here, so time to sign off and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Higgledy Anne

(I’m on Instagram anne_hinks if you fancy a follow)