Sowing for spring

We start preparations for our flowers the following year from the September equinox onwards - sowing seeds of hardy annuals such as cornflowers and nigella, planting rows of ranunculus corms, tucking allium and Fritillaria bulbs into the perennial beds, and finally planting trenches of tulips in November. It’s exciting to imagine how all the hard work will pay off come spring, when reward comes in the form of soft unfurling petals and sweet scents.

These are a few of our favourite things to sow and plant this side of Christmas!

We sow sweet peas in September and tuck them into the ground under cover from November. Growing in the tunnel protects their delicate petals from any rain damage and we can look forward to clouds of scented flowers come May. Sweet pea ‘Red Ace’ adds a punch of lipstick red to bouquets.

Planted in long rows in the polytunnels, ranunculus and anemones provide a sweet shop display of colour from April onwards - from deep chocolate and aniseed red to sugary pink and fizzy yellow. We use these abundantly in our seasonal flower subscriptions.

Sowing hardy annual seed the previous autumn gives us a jump start on the season. While the small seedlings appear unimpressive over the winter, by mid May the beds are bursting with bushy floriferous plants and towering spires, including this Delphinium consolida ‘Misty Lavender’ variety.

Dainty Fritillaria bells, honey-scented cupped narcissus, ice blue muscari, multi headed tulip ‘Turkestanica’ and acrid yellow wild tulip ‘Sylvestris’ … the perennial bulbs cause the most excitement when they emerge, bringing that extra sense of delicacy to spring arrangements.