Snapdragon's garden

More roses . . .

I think that I may have given the mistaken impression in my last post that I do not like roses.  In fact I love roses - I just have a problem with a flower which is in essence fleeting - the pinnacle of the June garden - become a year round commodity.  In my comment I compared it to a strawberry - people eat strawberries in December because they can - but they are getting a far lesser fruit and in some ways spoiling the June feast by making strawberries commonplace.
Anyway to prove that I do in fact love and plant roses in my own garden . . .
This is a multi header climber trained along the front fence.
A rambler headed up into hawthorn trees along our boundary - I feel that this may turn out to be a mistake in a few years time but at the moment it is glorious with great wands of flowers blowing in the breeze.
and my favourite rose in the garden - William Lobb - a triumph of hope against experience as he gets besmirched so easily in the rain.
Still on a rose theme - I was in town yesterday and picked up a copy of Martha Stewart Weddings (and it is interesting that US wedding magazines don't have the rose obsession of the Brits).  In it was this.

And I shall quote the caption "These pink Sally Holmes roses lasted only 2 hours after they were wired.  But for one bride, this was a once in a lifetime chance to carry them and her florist made her bouquet just minutes before the ceremony.  The results were worth it."
That sounds like extreme floristry to me.

Roses

Roses are the flower that cause me the most trouble.
I don't really grow roses bar a few ramblers and old roses.  We have too wet a climate to grow them successfully without resorting to sprays and that is something I am determined not to do.
Yet roses are one of those flowers that people request - particularly brides.  Roses are lodged in our consciousness as the flower of romance.
I do not grow roses.  Over the past year - a year suffering from what Sally calls "the curse of the Ecuadorian rose" - I have had to come up with solutions for brides who have their hearts set on rosy bouquets.
Normally I can steer brides away from roses towards something else that they like even more than the roses.
However, when Lynn, whose wedding was yesterday, turned up with inspiration photos last year it was clear that a simple steer wouldn't work - every photo was of Ecuadorian roses, no foliage, no other flowers.
So I bit the bullet, worked out where I stood and suggested that we buy some roses in from The Real Flower Company and supplement these with my roses (moss roses and ramblers) and some peonies.

I chose The Real Flower company largely because I have met its owner Rosebie Moreton and she seemed very down to earth, and partly because the only other company growing old fashioned roses in Britain is run by someone whom I met when I was working in art galleries aged 22.  This person (who shall remain nameless) was so snootily condescending to me back then that I could not in all conscience put money in her pocket now.  Easy decision.
In the end the result was very pretty - most of the bought in roses were used to put into napkins at the reception - and a few were mixed into a bouquet alongside the sumptuous William Lobb moss rose, pink  peonies and a small flowered blue/purple climber. 
I am still in two minds about the whole rose thing though - I think that it is caused in large part by 99% of the bouquets in wedding magazines including roses, something inspired by their availability all year round in all colours, rather than any intrinsic rosy qualities.  It is spring? - lets use pale roses and tulips; autumn? - rust coloured roses and hypericum; its winter? - how about red roses and pine needles. 
Recently I was interviewed by the American writer Amy Stewart for a British edition of her fantastic book Flower Confidential.  It is one of those habit changing books that open your eyes to the way a business works.  If you are prepared to never be able to buy roses again without a whole load of questioning read Chapter 6 on growing roses in Ecuador.

Oh what a cheery post!  Can you tell I'm in bed with a cold?

J

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Bathtub beauties

This week I am busy organizing flowers for a wedding near Stirling on Friday. and no-one has been able to get near the bath.
First it was full blown peonies floating there to condition them for the bouquet

  It lets the petals take up water and stops them wilting.
Now - and far less glamorously - it is full of artemesia which has a bit of a black fly infestation.  A squirt of washing up liquid in the water and they all float off.  Yumm.
Can't have a church full of aphids.

Next newsletter out

I have just posted out by e-mail the latest edition of Snapdragon's newsletter.  This time there are instructions on how to make bunting
How to fashion a simple buttonhole for summer weddings
and a special offer on my caravan notebooks
If anyone wants to get a copy (absolutely free - easily stoppable - guaranteed no spam) send me an e-mail at snapdragonjane@googlemail.com

Bobbling along

I cannot throw things away. The smallest scraps of beautiful materials are carefully stowed - just in case . . .
I have now found a solution - a simple modification to my button badge maker and I can make hair bobbles out of all the pieces that are too small for anything else.
Katie has been trialling them for me - she has had unusually neat hair this week - her bobbles of choice are made from a 1950s cotton with sugar pink rosebuds.
I shall be at The Green Fair in Dunblane this Saturday (Victoria Halls, 10-3) - come and say Hi if you are passing - it looks like there will be lots of good stalls.  I shall be there behind a great heap of bobbles - it turned out to be rather addictive.
J
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Colouring up

There has been a bit more colour creeping into my work recently.

Some of thats down to the design project that is still under wraps. But I also found that I missed it.  However, the month of so of monochrome has led to a lot more restraintin the way I work.  For the mystery design project (goodness at this rate it is going to be such an anti-climax when I finally reveal the products) I had 6 colours to work with.   I couldn't just empty the scrap bag and get stitching,  I had to think about it all in a more considered and disciplined way.
I think that this new approach it has carried onto these caravan notebooks which will be going up on the website in the next week or so -

I am really pleased with them - especially the backs.
After a month of so of sunshine we are now deep in drizzle - I need some sunshine to take photos of bunting for my newsletter.

Blue skies

Thank you to everyone for their lovely comments and emails, for the wise words and encouragement.  It is all appreciated a lot.
Thank you particularly to the reader who phoned up her friend Fiona and said that I was looking for help.
 Fiona came round to see me today and will start helping me tackle the weeds on Thursday.

Yesterday evening I lay on the deck by the airstream and looked at the sky - it was amazing, great long wisps - it stopped the wobbles.
Onward and upwards indeed

The elephant in the room

The elephant that has been pirouetting around my business this year is the increasingly obvious fact that I am failing to do everything.
The way that the business works is that there is a layer of deadlined things to do (weddings, gift bouquets, orders to make, pack up and mail out) propped up by non deadlined things such as gardening and making stock.
The deadlined things get done . . and surprise, surprise the rest just hasn't.
I have found it very difficult to accept that I can't do everything. 
All this month I have felt that it is a terrible failing, that I must not be trying hard enough, that the beds of weeds are all my fault.
It came to a head this weekend with Euan innocently asking what was happening with the garden and me dissolving into gulping tears.
So now, after a severe talking to, I accept that the business has to expand to succeed and if it expands than I can't do everything  . . .and that that is OK.
So I am looking for a gardener to help me rescue the garden and I am going to prioritise much better, spending my time more sensibly on the bits that only I can do.  Thankfully the terrible appearance hasn't had that much effect on the productivity of the actual flowers but if it is left like that it certainly will
So if anyone knows someone looking for 10 hours work a week knocking a cutting garden into shape get them to call me 01360 660 903.
The bee photo was taken by Jane Robertson a week or so ago - it is balanced on a cirsium - one of the most useful flowers in the spring garden from a cutting point of view.  One of the many things I haven't got done in the past few months is actually planning what we do with these beautiful photos. . .and hopefully there will soom be a beautiful garden to photograph
There you go - I haven't written such a moaning post for ages!

Hosta decoration

Yesterday at the workshop, Caroline had cut some beautiful old roses.  They were too heavy headed to work in a bouquet without looking ill so we cut them short and made a table decoration instead.  To set them off, I covered a glass with hosta leaves It was such a serendipitous arrangement - that I thought I would recreate it as a step by step here. Most of my step by step tutorials are now part of my newsletter but next week's newsletter is already full of them (bunting and buttonholes) so i thought that I would post this here instead.
First pick some hosta leaves and condition them by floating them in water - here they are in my bathroom sink.  This variety is called Francine I think - it seems to be one that slugs don't take to.
Then wrap 2 strips of oasis waterproof blutac round the glass, top and bottom.  I cut the strips horizontally to save money.  This is obviously one of those cheap Ikea water glasses, the ones I had at Caroline's were old nutella jars and were actually a better shape as they are curved.
Then lay down the glass and carefully press the leaves onto the blutac, all the way round.
Trim the leaves level with the bottom of the glass and stand up and fill with flowers.  It will keep well in a saucer of water until you need it - I think that these would look fabulous down the centre of a table outside, perhaps in an orchard, with tealights hanging from the trees . . .  You get the picture.
If anyone wants to know more about the bunting and buttonholes e-mail me and I shall add you to the newsletter list -

Flower workshop at Inchyra House

Today was the first of 2 workshops that I am leading at Inchyra House in Perthshire. Inchyra is the beautiful Georgian mansion, family home to Caroline Hoyer Millar who runs the mail order company Twice.  It has that welcoming, calming feel that proper family homes have.
This summer Caroline has branched out into hosting a series of courses and I was privileged to be asked to teach one showing people how to get the most from their garden flowers.  Today was all about learning about how to cut, condition, put together bunches and wrap them professionally.
One of the things that I love about courses is that you get to meet such interesting people - and that applies as much when you are teaching as when you are attending.  The group today were really lovely - as usual I was too busy yacking away to get proper photos but here is a blurry one of people getting stuck into making a tied bouquet from flowers picked from my garden.
Caroline was a great hostess - providing a wonderful lunch of asparagus and goats cheese tart and allowing us to visit her walled garden to admire the roses and peonies
I am doing another day tomorrow teaching the same subject and then Caroline and I are getting together to firm up some ideas for an October workshop.
Can't wait.
I think Caroline took some better photos, so I shall have to see if I can cadge some,
J
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