A Flowering Month – September

September – Spring! It’s been an incredibly wet start though I have to say! The flower field is still too wet to cultivate, and I’m having to find other places to tuck my seedlings in instead. So far this strategy is working but am going to run out of room very shortly. The dahlias are bursting out of their planter bags too.

First flower of note  this month was the almond blossom. I always leave the almonds unpruned until they start flowering, and then prune away to my heart’s content. They are planted in an exposed area into just about solid clay, surrounded by kikuyu grass, so not exactly vigorous anyway, so this strategy works perfectly. One day I will figure out how you force blossoming branches so I can enjoy them for more than two weeks. I vaguely remember you need to put them in the freezer? I’m keen to get a chest freezer, maybe this is the final justification I need.

My trial patches of spring bulbs have been flowering away madly. I was quite late with putting in most of the bulbs (and there are actually some still sitting in the fridge….). The first pick was for a little posy for father’s day – this father loves flowers so he was happy.

The ranunculus patch has been going great. It was just a random mix this year. Way too many red. The white are my favourite. The pink is very pink but works surprisingly well with other colours (perhaps not the red….). I must get on to ordering bubs for next year now, so I can get what I actually want to grow, rather than an assortment of leftovers! Next year I will actually have the space to plant them too, if the flower field is not too wet. I think I might be adding a fair amount of compost…

(My bouquet wrapping skills need some work…)

Also of note this month is the perennial scabiosa. I only have one plant big enough to flower, but it’s been doing well. They are fascinating to watch as they slowly unfurl their petals over several days. I’m planning to sow the white variety, so hopefully will have some more next year.

My new alstromeria has started flowering in earnest. The rest of them are yet to get going, but this one seems keen! It’s not quite as orange as showing in the picture. It does need staking though, as most of the stems are  bent and so have to be cut short.

Notes for next year: would like to grow more white freesias. I seem to have an awful lot of light purple, which is not my favourite colour. I love the double daffodils but they are expensive and I would like to leave them in the ground preferably if I was to keep them. I will keep my small patch, but bigger plans might have to wait until that expansion….