 What a difference a week of rain makes!
One week we’re miserly saving every drop of household water for plants then Boom! A massive thunderstorm. For a few days, we’re wearing wellies & rescuing potted plants from pools of water. I swear plants grew inches & grass greened last week with the desperately needed rain. Like the rest of the UK, we had a glorious long spell of hot, dry weather – it was wonderful being able to plan work outside & cut flowers certain it would be dry. But it was beginning to worry us – we've our own water supply & levels were falling fast. Suddenly hyper aware of how careless we're with water, rapidly becoming expert at saving buckets of water from the house. Water was targeted at plants in most need – the colours promised for weddings, the newly planted shrubs & roses. There have been losses but mostly just annuals. My carefully planned successions of Annual Gypsophila & Nigella for example, gave one magnificent display, together. Now there’ll be no more for the rest of the year. I miss them but there’s a bumper crop of seed pods to dry for autumn & winter wreaths instead! Overall I’ve been impressed by how resilient plants are – the Roses, Achillea, Garden Pinks & Agapanthus have been the most prolific I’ve ever known here, loving heat & the dry. We’ve been harvesting large buckets of all. Even the Sweet Peas kept going – the stems were shorter for a while & they got regular soaks, now they’re happily producing masses of stems again. The watering was taking a large chunk of time each day but on the plus side, weeds didn’t germinate & grass didn’t need cutting… don’t think that’ll last! As the flowers move through towards late Summer, the colours are changing in our bouquets. There’s always plenty of white of course but the pale pastels of early summer are giving way to brighter, bolder colours. Dahlias, Asters, Heleniums & Sunflowers are blooming early in a mix of pinks, purples, oranges & yellow. The late Summer flowering bulbs Acidanthera & Gladioli are beginning to form spikes nicely now we’ve had rain. We’ll be bringing flowers to Kirkcudbright Farmers Market on Sunday 26th August. As always, Bouquets, wreaths & Flowers to arrange yourself can be ordered throughout the month to collect from the Flower Farm or local delivery. I know the drought remains serious further south, making it difficult for our fellow flower farmers & gardeners (perhaps you). We’re still careful with water & maybe developing better working habits from the experience. But I’m grateful all has freshened up, the pressure lessened. Like wet weather, the heat doesn’t last. - all we can do is adapt & make the most of whatever comes. Take it easy if too hot for you & let’s hope for more sunshine, lots of blooms & cooler, comfortable temperatures for the last few weeks of Summer. Jobs for the Cutting Garden in August
Rosie Gray Galloway Flowers
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 This beauty just gets bigger & more beautiful by the day. If you crushed blackcurrants & gently painted the juice on a white background - that's exactly the effect on these blooms. Very painterly & lovely to mix with pinks & blues in a bouquet. The dahlias are appreciating the recent rain & the stems are longer now. #GrowninGalloway #Dahlias #SummerFlowers #ScottishFlowers
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AuthorRosie Gray of Galloway Flowers. Artisan Florist & Cut Flower Farmer near Castle Douglas, in South West Scotland. Using 100% Flowers & Foliage grown in British Isles, all year round. Archives
February 2020
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Growing Gorgeous Seasonal Cut Flowers, Foliage & Herbs in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland
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Artisan Flower Farmer Florist Castle Douglas Flower Farm Scotland Wedding Flowers Castle Douglas Florist Castle Douglas Funeral Flowers Castle Douglas
Galloway Flowers is part of Mosaic Learning Ltd. Reg. no. 4728266