Friday 7 May 2021
I’ve learnt to be far less snobby about growing flowers lately; because I cut them for the vase, this allows my planting to be free, with an eye for colour and shape rather than planning colour schemes in pots and border. When it comes to cut flowers, you can be far more crazed. I like flowers to be weird and wonderful for cutting. My favourite way to display them inside is simply in single stem vases or even shallow bowls. I ve found that circus-like, larger than life, almost bonkers in form flowers can take a room by storm and once you start arranging them in single stems, you’ll never look at a plant catalogue in the same way again! I like to grow varieties that I know I won’t be able to buy too and if I can, I choose flowers that will scent a room – they re so wonderful in bathrooms and by the bedside. Scent, character, charm and scale are the essentials here, regardless of the season, and don’t forget about seed heads either for the winter months.
The best seeds and plug plants to sow now for a spectacular summer display
Glamorous summer pots don’t happen by accident. Choose annuals now and grow from seed or plugs for maximum impact
3 March 2021 • 4:47pm
Even in the height of summer, Arthur Parkinson is still looking for places to shoehorn in a few more plants to keep the show going
Credit: Andrea Jones
I love growing my garden’s summer pot displays from scratch, sowing annuals from packets of seed but also ordering seedling plug plants that arrive in the post to be grown on.
This year, to give my pots canopy-like layers of spilling and engulfing colour, I’m growing more annuals than ever before. I could just buy them all from the garden centre in May, but I’d never find the range of varieties and, eve if I did, so many plants would cost a fortune. Nurturing your own seedlings truly pays off – and now is the time to plan your displays.