Page 31 - ALG Issue 2 20202
P. 31

   My top 6 perennials: these will come back year after year:
• Roses–alwaysa
favourite. Choose suitable long-stemmed varieties with open flowers; allow a year to settle in before cutting.
• Delphiniums–fantastic long stems are great for tall vases. Grow from seed or young plants. Protect from slugs.
• Verbenabonariensis – couldn’t be easier to grow. Crops over most of the summer.
• Asters–goodforlate summer/autumn cutting.
• Dahlias–tender and will need tubers lifting in the autumn, but a dazzling array of colours and forms available.
• Gladioli–plantcorms in succession for a long season of cutting.
  My top 6 annuals: sown, grow and complete their life cycle in one season: • Cosmos–couldnot
be easier to grow, vast range of colours and flower forms.
• Statice–greatasa filler to arrangements, either fresh or cut and dried.
• Larkspur–likean annual delphinium. Long stems but protect from slugs!
• Cerinthe–unusualbut easy to grow and great cut flower.
• Antirrhinums–require some attention for sowing, pricking out etc. but worth the effort!
• Clary–agreatfillerfor arrangements and very easy to grow.
      It is always easier to sort out the ground with no plants in than to try and amend it around plants without doing damage
     crops have been cleared for example. The soil in this case will already have been prepared for the other crops, and they will add colour and variety over the whole of the plot.
 This really is a very small selection of what is available but have a look in your catalogue of choice for more inspiration. So, for the benefit of your plot, site and nature, have a go at cut flowers this season – and let’s be honest, it will never go down badly with friends, relatives, neighbours or even your other half if you return home with a lovely bunch of bright and cheerful home-grown flowers!
Aaron Hickman
 Allotment and Leisure Gardener 31















































































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