Friday, March 30, 2007

Flower Power


This year I'm tiptoeing further into the hitherto unbeknownst territory (to me anyway) of flower growing. Apart from a few perennials - Aquilegia, Echinops and Iris - and some self seeding Nigellas, I've always stuck to vegetables. Last year I grew a row of Marigold harlequin and while not the most beautiful or fragrant flowers they are decidedly jolly and bloomed from June through to October.
My plan this year is to stud my greensward with blossoms creating a flowery mead such as you see in medieval tapestries. To that end I have just sown seeds of Cornflower Polka dot ("a dwarf strain with an outstanding colour range"), Eschscholzia Mission Bells ("Californian poppies in a range of bright colours") and Chamomile in trays in the window. Very exciting!
'Ful gay was al the ground, and quaint,
And powdred, as men had it peint,
With many a fressh and sundry flowr,
That casten up ful good savour.'

(as Chaucer put it)
I am hoping that if we time the semi-annual lawn mow to just prior to planting out, the flowers may have a chance to establish themselves. Later in the summer any grass cutting will have to be done with scissors I guess.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It sounds beautiful. I particularly like the idea of only having enough grass that scissors is a possibility.