September News & Growing Tips from Galloway Flowers

​   The Flowers are blazing with colour this month as many of the late Summer flowers such as Asters, Cosmos, Helenium & of course Dahlias, burst into bloom. All had a good soaking last month & now producing masses of stems for the late August & September weddings, bouquets & arrangements.

  The Dahlia patch is eye poppingly colourful with such a variety of shapes, colours & sizes. We’re cutting buckets of them each week now so let me know if you would like some. I’m always happy to cut a bunch to arrange yourself for collection.

  We’re mindful our first frost date is often mid-September here so have lengths of fleece to hand ready to throw over the dahlias if a really cold night is forecast. Experience has taught me if I can protect them through this month, often we don’t get another frost till well into October. So with a little effort the blooms will keep on coming. We listen carefully to the last weather forecast each night & often dash down in the dark because the forecast changes!

  And this is really the beginning of our gardening year not the end. We’re planning & planting now to make sure we have plenty of stems to cut in Spring & early Summer next year. I’ve been splitting some of our favourite perennials such as Astrantia & Alchemilla. These are both so useful in early June & I used every stem available this year. Planting out the Sweet Williams & Sweet Rocket into the spaces of spent annual crops has begun now. And of course I'll be sowing a few hardy annual seeds to overwinter & bloom early in the polytunnel.

  The boxes of bulbs ordered back in May will arrive any day & getting these planted is one of our big jobs of the year. To be honest, it can seem a bit overwhelming when they arrive! We’ve ordered many unusual Narcissi (particularly useful as the deer don’t eat them), Anemone, Ranunculus & more.

  Dried flower arrangements are enjoying a rise in popularity so I've been gathering up the Hydrangeas, Poppy & Nigella seed heads plus lovely grasses to fill a few jugs later in the year & to make Autumn wreaths.

  If you’ve ever wanted to take a peek behind the scenes here at how we grow our flowers, you can in the September issue of ‘Dumfries & Galloway Life’. We were visited by journalist Laura Jones back in July & her article is included in the September magazine out now.

  While Christmas might seem a long way off yet, I’ll just mention the ’Make Your Own Christmas Wreath’ workshop has been scheduled for Tuesday 11thDecember. It’ll be at the lovely CatStrand Arts Centre in New Galloway again – it would be lovely if you could join me for this fun, creative afternoon. Places can be booked HERE. I’ve started collecting up lots of cones etc already so we’ll have lots of natural treasures to decorate the wreaths as well as pretty ribbons, cinnamon sticks etc..

  I’ll be bringing flowers to Kirkcudbright Farmers Market on Sunday 23rd September. As always, Bouquets, Wreaths & Flowers to arrange yourself can be ordered to collect from the Flower Farm or for local delivery.

Here's hoping for a beautiful 'Indian Summer' & golden season of mellow fruitfulness,

Jobs for the Cutting Garden in September

• If you want to have Hyacinths blooming indoors for Christmas, these need to be planted this month. Be sure to buy the 'Prepared' bulbs for forcing indoors. They make pretty little gifts for others as well as a treat for you with their delicious scent.
• Plant your bulbs outside (not tulips yet) for a fabulous display & lots to cut next Spring. There's always room for a few more somewhere...
• For a different Spring bulb, try Dutch Iris, I recommend them. Relatively inexpensive to buy, they come in blues, whites & yellows. They're a useful shape to add to arrangements in May & June. I grow some in the polytunnel too for an early crop to mix with the Tulips & Narcissi
• Begin the Autumn tidy up but don't get carried away. Many seed heads provide food for birds (Lemon Balm, Pampas Grass) & look lovely covered in a hard frost over winter.
• Look out for self-sown seedlings around the plants as you clear. Carefully transplant them & increase your favourites for free
• And for some flowery inspiration from a real wedding, here's a Link to a Rich Colourful Autumn wedding 

Until next time, 
Rosie Gray