Sami continued his tradition of 'not really helping' yesterday while I was cutting conifer for the first of the Christmas Wreath Making Workshops in Dumfries tomorrow. By sitting on it. Well, it was sunny...

  The pre-ordered Christmas Wreaths are being made from the freshest ingredients this week & being delivered to decorate doors across Dumfries & Galloway. This one is made from mixed foliage, rosehips & cones grown here at the flower farm in Galloway. We didn't grow the cinnamon sticks though!
  You can still order a wreath for your door or as a surprise gift to be delivered before December 19th. But don't leave it too late to order, once they're gone, they're gone...
​  Order wreaths online here

I love making wreaths – every one unique, richly textured, using the natural materials we’re blessed with here. We grow almost all the foliage at the Flower Farm & add a few natural extras such as Cones, Mistletoe & Rosehips from other British growers to give a splash of colour to the designs. Now the Festive season has arrived, our pre-ordered wreaths start being delivered to front doors across the region from this week. Wreaths can be ordered for delivery up to Wednesday 19th December.

  The ‘Make Your Own Wreath’ Workshops begin next week too & I admit this is one of the most enjoyable activities of my year. Many of us believe we aren’t creative but it simply isn’t so – everybody can enjoy crafting their own natural wreath. There are a few places left on each as of today - don’t leave it too late if you’re planning to come along. The dates are;

• Sunday 9th December Dumfries Sports Centre
• Tuesday 11th December Cat strand Arts Centre, New Galloway
• Saturday 15th December Station House Cookery School, Kirkcudbright

  All the information about the workshops can be found here.

  In between making wreaths, we make the most of the limited daylight & any dry days to work outside. I would love to report that every Tulip & Narcissi bulb is snugly tucked up in the soil by now, the leaves have all been raked up & everything looks immaculately tidy – but I would be lying!

  Every year it seems I’m caught out by these short days & massively overestimate what can be achieved. It’s not a disaster, bulbs have an amazing ability to catch up but still, I want to move on to the detailed planning for 2019. I’ll be planting out the first few Sweet Pea seedlings in the polytunnel this week for an early wedding. The thought I’m holding on to like a countdown is; only another 20 days & the days start to get longer…

  While wedding season may seem far off, we’ve already 5 couples booked in for 2019. Such early bookings are a great help to us with planning our flower choices. This year we noticed a trend for pale pink & burgundy colour schemes, requests for blue flowers (a favourite of mine) & it seems for next year, yellow is becoming a popular choice too. Now that’s a colour I haven’t been growing much of for the early Summer season so I’m having fun with the seed catalogues looking for new favourites.

  And while there’s much to do preparing wreaths, table decorations & more for our clients this month, I look forward to those long dark evenings in front of the wood burner with the seed catalogues. The ‘wish list’ is still far too long…

  The last words for this month have to be; 'A heartfelt Thank You for helping us spread the word about beautiful, natural, seasonal British flowers. And of course, Very warm wishes to you & yours for the Festive season & a spectacular cutting patch in 2019.’ 

Jobs for the Cutting Garden in December;

• If you grow Hellebores, they'll love a generous dollop of compost this month. It'll give them a boost as they prepare for a beautiful display of early flowers.
• If you have a wood burner (or know someone who does) use the wood ash to feed hungry flowering plants. It's particularly good for Clematis, Roses, Hellebores, Strawberries & Raspberries.
• This is a good time to prune your Roses by about half to prevent root damage from windrock.
• Remember the garden birds in the colder weather. They appreciate feeders full of peanuts, sunflowers & fatballs. offering clean fresh water is a great help to them when normal sources are frozen.
• And for some flowery inspiration from a real wedding, here's a Link to a an Early Summer Wedding. It isn't Christmassy but early summer - you know when a Florist gets married, the flowers are going to be something special!

Until next time, 
Rosie Gray
Galloway Flowers