Beardy

ELDER, CRABAPPLE, HYDRANGEA

A textural arrangement layered with turning elder leaves, fluffy clematis seedheads and the last of the honeysuckle, roses and hydrangea.

SEPTEMBER

INGREDIENTS

Sambucus nigra (elder)

Clematis vitalba (traveller’s joy)

Hydrangea (panicled hydrangea)

Rosa ‘For Your Eyes Only’ & ‘Orienta Magnolia’ (rose)

Kolkwitzia amabilis (beauty bush)

Ribes sanguineum (flowering currant)

Malus (crab apple)

Cydonia oblonga (quince)

VaSE

Low stoneware dish

Kenzan

Cap of chicken wire

NOTES

Clematis vitalba is a wild clematis that grows like mad throughout the hedgerows and countryside surrounding our cutting garden in Hampshire. It is so vigorous that in some countries it is considered an invasive species. We find it an incredibly useful ingredient all year round - when it’s in bud and then smothered in faintly fragrant cream flowers from midsummer on. By September the flowers are going to seed with long, gold, silky seedheads. Later in the autumn these become fluffy and turn grey-white which is how it earned the nickname ‘old man’s beard’.

The beautiful quince fruit is from a small tree in my London garden that each year reliably yields a harvest of exactly three fruits.

Hodge podge

GUERNSEY LILY, RIVER LILY

A bountiful autumnal bowl of garden flowers and foliage - a garden 'hodge podge' (categorised in the English dictionary as a 'confused mixture of different things').

OCTOBER

INGREDIENTS

Rosa canina (wild dog rose)

Chrysanthemum morifolium ‘Aunt Millicent’ (Korean chrysanthemum)

Chrysanthemum ‘Avignon Pink’ & ‘Allouise Pink’

Dahlia ‘Cafe au Lait’ & ‘Wine Eyed Jill’

Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Henry Eilers' (coneflower)

Gladiolus murielae (Abyssianian gladiolus)

Hesperantha coccinea ‘Pink Princess’ (flag Lily)

Nerine undulata ‘Mega Crispa’ (fringed guernsey lily)

Rosa ‘Sweet Jessica’ & ‘Brown Velvet’

Anemone coronaria ‘de Caen Sylphide’

VASE

Ceramic pedestal bowl in a cream glaze ( Aesme Studio design)

Kenzan

Chicken wire

NOTES

This is the time of year when we enjoy the autumn flowering bulbs and corms planted in the spring - nerines, flag lilies, anemones and gladioli.

We deliberately do not stake our chrysanthemum plants (grown indoors in a tunnel) so that their stems arch and curve as they grow. This makes them enormously useful for soft, romantic centrepiece designs. Often overlooked as a supermarket flower there are many wonderful varieties in nuanced colours. They last well into November for us and even longer in the vase - plus they smell divine.

Strawberry cream

wild rose, dahlia, aster

A windswept arrangement from the garden and surrounding hedgerows at the tail-end of the season.

OCTOBER

INGREDIENTS

Rosa canina (wild rose)

Dahlia ‘Strawberry Cream’ (dahlia)

Symphyotrichum turbinellum, 'Vasterival' & ‘Little Carlow’ (aster)

VASE

Antique terracotta footed dish

Liner

Kenzan

Small scrunch of chicken wire

NOTES

Extremely restrained for me… a massed arrangement with ruby red dog-rose hips, lilac asters and sugary dahlias.

Rosa canina (dog rose / briar rose / wild rose) is native to Europe and grows wild through many a hedgerow. It is the county flower of Hampshire, where our cutting garden is located. The flower was used as the basis for the rose used in medieval European heraldry and the name supposedly stems from the belief that the plant's root could cure the bite of a mad dog. It’s one of my absolute favourite materials but don’t forget your leather gauntlets - the thorns are vicious! From mid-late May every year I’ll be eagerly scanning the hedgerow for the single petalled flowers which range from white to a sugary pink. In the autumn these gorgeous oval fruits form, orange-red and glossy.

Beauty in decay

ACER, BAMBOO, NASTURTIUM

This one’s all about the foliage: shrubs, vines, grasses with a few seedpods and the last flowers of the season.

OCTOBER

INGREDIENTS

Acer palmatum ‘Katsuro’ (Japanese maple)

Bambusa vulgaris (bamboo)

Lathyrus latifolius (perennial peavine)

Sanguisorba tenuifolium (burnet)

Rudbeckia subtomentosa (sweet coneflower)

Chrysanthemum ‘Avignon Pink’ (chrysanthemum)

Abelia chinensis (Chinese abelia)

Choisya (Mexican orange blossom)

Eleagnus (silverberry)

Rosa ‘Cornelia’ (rose)

Molinia (purple moor grass)

Panicum ‘Warrior’ (switch grass)

Hypericum (St John’s wort)

Tropaeolum majus ‘Ladybird’ (garden nasturtium)

Solanum - unknown variety (tomato)

VASE

Concrete pestle bowl

Kenzan

Chicken wire

NOTES

At this time of year the leaves on all the deciduous plants in the garden are displaying the most incredible colours. It's a beautiful sight for us to enjoy but of course there is a scientific reason - as the light levels start to drop during the winter months the plants are no longer photosynthesising (producing energy for growth) and chlorophyll, the component that makes the leaves appear green, is leaving, which is why we start to see those yellow and red pigments instead. Leaf senescence is a natural part of the life cycle of plants - if only we viewed the aging of ourselves with such admiration!

All that glitters

SILVERBERRY & GOLDEN OATS

Something a little shimmery to kick off the festive season - Silverberry (Elaeagnus) with silver and yellow-gold leaves, feathery Golden Oats (Stipa gigantea) and Chrysanthemum 'Spider Bronze' for a pop of colour.

NOVEMBER

INGREDIENTS

Eleagnus (silverberry)

Stipa gigantea (golden oats)

Helichrysum italicum (curry plant)

Allium ‘Gladiator’ (ornamental onion)

Chrysanthemum ‘Spider Bronze’ & ‘Allouise Salmon’

Panicum ‘Warrior’ (switch grass)

Crocosmia ‘Hellfire’ (fire lily)

Linaria purpurea (toadflax)

Solanum laxum (potato vine)

VASE

Vintage brass lassis cup

NOTES

November is a great time for finding metallic ingredients and hunting through the garden for materials with a bit of a sheen to the flowers or leaves. Seed pods are a satisfying textural element - we tend to harvest them around now before it gets too wet and soggy in the garden. A surprisingly effective addition were the crispy crocosmia leaves - the blades turning gold and bronze.