Cherry creme brûlée cutting garden collection
- Position: Full sun
- Soil: Moderately fertile, moist, well-drained soil
- Rate of growth: Fast
- Flowering period: June to September
- Hardiness: Fully hardy
An exquisite and carefully curated collection of easy to grow plant seeds destined to become wonderful and voluminous auburn and pink-hued cut flower displays with an emphasis on contrasting forms and dried flowers.
The collection contains one packet of seeds for each of the plants listed below. Each packet comes with its own specific sowing instructions.
- Daucus carota ‘Dara': A purely decorative form that is grown for its airy umbels of pink and burgundy flowers, which create a haze of colour throughout the summer months. The feathery foliage of this hardy annual is attractive too. Grows to 90cm.
- Consolida regalis 'QIS Rose': A hardy annual with well-branched, ferny, palmate mid-green leaves and spikes of pale pink blooms that emerge white. It's an elegant and eye-catching addition to borders, offering masses of summer colour and providing long-lasting cut flowers. Grows to 1.2m.
- Limonium sinuatum 'QIS Apricot': An easy to grow, ‘everlasting’ and ever-popular flowering annual forming a basal rosette of rich green foliage from which abundant sprays of apricot-pink, papery blooms emerge on wiry stems ripe for cut flower arrangements. Loved by pollinating insects, and incredibly long-lasting, a dried arrangement will hold its colour throughout the winter. Grows to 60cm.
- Phlox drummondii ''Crème Brûlée': Dark-green, lance-shaped leaves with clusters of dusky pink and peachy-cream coloured blooms held on upright stems, 'Crème Brûlée' is a delightful short-lived perennial, treated as a summer bedding annual. Flowering from June to September, this pretty, perfumed Phlox is superb as a cut flower. Grows to 50cm.
- Panicum capillare ‘Sparkling Fountain': Jewelled beads of dew will adorn this dainty, airy grass, which forms festoons of fibre optic-like panicles of pale green followed by decorative purple seed heads. ‘Sparkling Fountain’ dries brilliantly, too, making this 'witch grass' a great annual foliage plant for cut flower displays. Grows to 80cm.
- Scabiosa atropurpurea 'Black Knight': Deep purple-plum pincushion-like flower heads create a dazzling display throughout the summer. They will attract butterflies and bees to the garden, look great in a vase (especially when combined with lime greens), and have a sweet scent. Grows to 90cm.
- Scabiosa stellata: Solitary, pale blue, spherical flower heads on branching stems are followed by translucent, silvery heads that pale into creamy-white globes popular in dried ‘everlasting’ displays. After flowering, each individual ‘cupcake’ base is exquisitely centred by a chocolate star that radiates fine lines throughout the papery bracts. An annual for the cut flower garden and winter vase. Grows to 50cm.
Seedlings should be potted up and grow on under glass until all risk of frost has passed and they can be planted outside in a well-prepared bed. Pinch out the growing tips to encourage bushier growth, and feed at regular intervals throughout summer with a high-potash fertiliser. Taller plants may need supporting with brushwood stems in exposed positions.