Sunday morning seed musings

How to choose what seeds to grow.

Hello my flower loving friends, I’ve been flicking through the seed catalogs and choosing what to order, there’s not much as I harvest a lot of my own seeds late summer. However, I’m always on the lookout for new things and I’m really enjoying browsing The Hampshire Seed Companies website. I’ll be ordering some beautiful poppy seeds and larkspur and the mr has chosen some chillies and kalettes. It’s taken years to learn discipline to know when to stop ordering seeds. You’ll probably want to grow everything, but there is plenty of time- there will be other years So let’s go at this gently and with a clear idea of what it is you want to achieve.

Choosing what to grow for a cut flower patch is both exciting and confusing, seed catalogs are like sweet shops for adults and it’s so tempting to order everything in every colour. The only problem is when they all arrive. How much space do you have to grow them all? There are a few important things to consider when choosing seeds, first is the space you have to start your cut flower patch and secondly is to consider the types of arrangements you want to create-the colours, textures and forms of flowers. As an example, I love pastel blooms and a muted colour palette with pops of dark contrast. I also like my arrangements to look like they are still growing, very free and wild so I choose things with varying heights, there is often froth, something trailing and something for structure. With these things in mind it’s easier to narrow down my what to grow list. Another thing to consider are flowering times. I like to plant for continuity and like to have things blooming from spring till nearly Christmas.

In the end I’ve managed to narrow down my choice of larkspur from three varieties to one, a beautiful misty lavender and I’ll go for the mixed pastel helichrysums which will stop me being fussy as I won’t know what colours will happen until they are flowering. My must haves are always cosmos, ammi, scabious, helichrysum, cornflowers, larkspur and sweet peas. I don’t grow many annuals now, I favour perennials like nepeta, Russian sage and things like hydrangeas and roses, not forgetting dahlias in late summer. The sweet peas are only ever for me and photography styling days. It’s not something I’d recommend growing as a flower farmer for gift bouquets, especially if space is tight.

This year I’m on even more of a mission to get garden blooms out there and help more people develop their own cut flower gardens and creating their own displays.

And if you’re considering turning your hobby of growing flowers into a business then I’ve put the link to my course at the bottom which has lots of advice on choosing and growing seeds and how to start a small floral business. I hope you’ll find it useful.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday

Emma x