It’s that time of year when the weather is finally (justifiably) getting a little warmer, and as a result my thoughts are in the garden. I long for the balmier days of summer when everything comes alive outside, and I can gather flowers like the ones pictured above from a post I wrote on my cutting garden favourites.

On many a weekend morning between February and April you can often find me perusing the latest Sarah Raven catalogue for hours (ok, I slightly exaggerate!) looking for inspiration. I love planning new flowers for our garden, filling the gaps and imagining my dream outdoor space. Having started with a very strict blue and white scheme I’m starting to introduce a little more colour as the years go by.

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I think of the garden as an extension of the interior, partly because I use the garden for cuttings so often in Spring and summer, but also because I have a love of nature that extends to bringing the outside in when I decorate and plan spaces. I tend to keep our garden fairly tonaly pared back (no pansies for me), delicate, a little wild or unstructured, which I think mirrors our home in a lot of ways. You don’t need to overthink it in a regimented way but I do feel that an outdoor space that makes your heart truly sing will mirror some of the internal elements you love.

I have put a lot of effort into our garden and it’s a bit of an evolving story whilst I work out what works and doesn’t in our South West facing sunny garden. As our garden is so sunny the things that don’t work tend to be those that have been overtaken by other things thriving too much around them. Though there is also a section behind the fence on one side which is very shady and it’s a real challenge to grow much other than ferns here.

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I’ve talked before about some of my favourite flowers for a summertime cutting garden, and I still use many of these each year. But I have a few gaps to fill, partly thanks to squirrels, partly because I’ve moved a few things on to new, bigger, homes. So today I thought I would share with you my current wish list of flowers that I hope will add to the tapestry of blooms in our garden this summer. Some have come from inspiration out and about on travels, the small wild daisies for example that I spotted in a doorway in Lewes have been on my list for a while, and this year I’m finally going to try and grow some apricot stocks from seed. I love apricot stocks, but they are really hard to find for bouquets so I’ll be really pleased if I can get them to take in our garden.

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All of the flowers I’m drawn to fit my brief of slightly wild, delicate and often muted. I’m trying a new variety of Ammi this year, the one that is actually a weed (cow parsley) as it saddens me that all other varieties don’t return year on year. I think I could happily have a garden full of cow parsley, however I’m mindful that this may not be the most family friendly! I am also looking forward to trying out Daucus carota which to my eye is a more dark purple hued version of cow parsley, and also some warm colours with coral coloured peonies, perhaps some dark burgundy thistles. I am also going to try some white astrantia in the garden this year, I’ve never been very successful with these (though have heard people say they flourish in their gardens), wish me luck! 

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