Holker Show 2010

Floral arrangements at this Year’s Holker Garden Festival, took us on a journey around the world.

Reds, oranges and yellows featured in some very creative designs.

Floral demonstrations were hosted by Ken Hough and Noreen Fishburn who will both be on the Chelsea Flower Show team for 2011 representing NAFAS.

Best in show was won by Mrs S Wareing, with her simple but stunning design “England’s Green and Pleasant Land” made from native plants that could easily be sourced from any garden.

The wonderful miniature arrangements in the “Luck of the Irish” category were truly captivating.

Gallery

Andy Sturgeon’s Best in Show

Andy Sturgeon took ‘Best in Show’ at the 2010 RHS Chelsea Flower show with his contemporary dry climate garden.

The gold medal winning Daily Telegraph Garden by Andy Sturgeon has a tidy contemporary feel with pathways leading through different areas of shrubs, herbaceous plants, seated areas and architectural structure.

Although the garden has a modern feel, the pale gravel and sectioned areas provide a sense of space but this does not come at the cost of planting, as so many modern gardens do.

Richly planted areas feature perennials and shrubs which can easily provide arms full of cut flowers and foliage.

This idea can easily be scaled to suit the average garden and the architectural aspect can be kept by replacing the metal structures with tall cypress, like those found in Italian landscapes.

More information

RHS Chelsea - Video tour of Andy Sturgeon’s “best in show” garden.
Andy Sturgeon – Landscape and Garden Design

Peonies as cut flowers

The large blousy blooms of the Peony make wonderful cut flowers and if picked in bud can last for three or more weeks in a vase.

Peonies are native to Europe, Asia and western north America but cope well with the British climate.  Flowering around May and June, the small round buds unfurl to disclose delicate, extravagant blooms ranging from white, through cream and lemon and from palest pink to the deepest burgundy.

Strong stems provide good support in the vase and the flamboyant blooms are great for single display or mixing in a bouquet.

Most Peonies are herbaceous perennials, reaching about 1.5 metres tall.  These totally die back to the ground in winter and regrow in the spring.

Tree Peonies which originated in Asia form a deciduous tree, around 3 metres tall, with some having a delicious fragrance.

Intersectional or Itoh Peonies are a recent development combining the features of the herbaceous and tree varieties.

Growing Peonies

Peonies prefer well drained soil and sunlight.  The tuberous root should only be planted about 5cm below the soil surface.

Wet or windy weather can be a problem, so most peonies require staking to keep the plant looking tidy.

Peony Wilt can affect the plant during wet weather but as the plant dies down over the winter months, the new growth in the spring is often unaffected.

The strong dark leaves of the peony plant provide form and structure in the herbaceous border and they look effective planted alongside Roses, Aquilegia, Nepeta and Penstemon.

Chelsea flower show

Rosie Hardy form Hardy’s cottage garden plants explained to the BBC how to grow Peonies and other garden flowers for a bouquet and Top Mayfair florist Yan Skates won a gold medal for his arrangements featuring British grown garden flowers.

Peony specialists

Binny Plants – Specialist Peony nursery in the UK
Kelway’s – Gold medal winners at Chelsea Flower Show 2010
Claire Austin Hardy Plants – Specialise in Herbaceous, tree and intersectional Peonies.
Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants

More information

Telegraph article – focusing on Lord Falmouth’s Kent estate, where they grow fields of peonies to sell as cut flowers,

Chelsea flower show – BBC videos from the Chelsea Flower show 2010

The Peony Society - A focus for Peony enthusiasts all over the world.

How to grow Peonies – In depth information on how to get the best from your herbaceous, tree and intersectional Peonies from Claire Austin.

Flower Sponsors Required

The Malta Horticultural Society, a voluntary Society founded in 1903 is the only Horticultural Society in Malta.

Once a year in the first weekend of May they organise ‘The Great Spring Show’ in the public gardens of San Anton and in a part of the president of Malta palace in Attard-Malta.

Many Maltese people and tourist visit the show each year.

Two British ladies, Elizabeth Gordon and Elaine Middleton, who won the gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show have been asked to come to this year’s show to showcase the winning flower arrangements.

The Corinthia Palace Hotel & Spa a five star Hotel in Attard-Malta are sponsoring accommodation at the hotel and Air Malta are going to sponsor the air tickets.

However, the organisers are still looking for sponsors to provide the flowers for the arrangements.

If you are a grower, distributor or have a general interest in flower arranging and would like to help, please e.mail Gabriel Ebejer.

Ever popular Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemums are enjoying great popularity in the UK.  Easy to grow and with a good vase life they are a favourite for the autumn cut flower garden.

Chrysanthemums originate in China, where they had been grown for about 2,500 years. Pierre Louis Blancard brought them to Europe in 1789. [Read more]