Summer pudding 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.
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.
- Antirrhinum majus ‘Admiral Crimson': An elegant, early-flowering and easy to grow snapdragon that produces showy spires of fragrant, crimson flowers throughout summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting and look luminous when drifted through a sunny, well-drained border. Grows to 1.2m.
- Matthiola incana ‘Column Apricot': Beautiful, blousy, and blooming in time from Valentines from an October sowing, the grey-green rosette of foliage gives rise to sweetly-scented and loosely branched double pinkish-apricot flowering spikes, ideal for the cut flower vase. Sown in early spring under glass, a fragrant bed of stocks in the garden can be had in as little as 90 days, and a succession of sowings will provide continuous flower and scent to summer borders well into autumn. Grows to 75cm.
- 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.
- Matthiola incana ‘Anytime Red': A delightful bedding plant boasting tightly packed, fully double blooms in a captivating shade of cherry red. These fragrant blossoms emit a sweet and spicy clove scent, perfuming the air on sturdy, single stems. While traditionally a cottage garden favourite, 'Anytime Red' offers versatility, making it equally stunning in a cut flower vase. Grows to 75cm.
- 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.
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.