The Cut Flower Sourcebook: Exceptional Perennials and Woody Plants for Cutting

Product Information

This is a substantial book with four main sections: Garden-led philosophy; From Garden to Vase; Getting Started and Plant Directory. The Directory has an extensive range of bulbs, perennials and climbers as well as grasses and trees/shrubs. I was also pleased with the range of grasses Rachel introduces in the book as these are often valuable in arrangements and sometimes much overlooked. The author makes a great case for seeing the cut flower potential of existing perennials and planting more perennials in beds as you would annuals. Annuals do use up way too many resources, including your time!, when there are so many longer lived alternatives. So I'm sold. Following that, there isn't a bevy of really unique information here. Beautiful photos though. Her book’s excellent plant directory aside, Siegfried also gives great tips on propagation by seed, cuttings and division – all skills that make the business of creating a garden so much cheaper as well as far more meaningful and joyful. Seasonal tasks are well covered too, from the importance of spring mulches to the summer art of “cut and come again” to produce a second flush of flowers, and the pleasures of home seed saving in autumn.

I was first, and hope last to be, a gardener, it was an unanticipated combination of circumstances that led me to do professionally something I did once only as a relaxation, and much as I love doing it, I don’t like the groove to be too deep.” Constance Spry, 1940 Rachel has worked in horticulture for 25 years and has experience in design, landscaping, nursery work and productive horticulture. In 2008, she founded Green and Gorgeous, a flower farm and floral design studio near Wallingford, Oxfordshire. Growing your own flowers for cutting brings the pleasures of the season indoors and cuts out the air miles associated with many shop-bought blooms. This book turns the spotlight on the best perennials and woody plants which return year after year with little effort or waste, offer valuable habitats to garden wildlife and bring a natural quality to arrangements.

Supporters

What I can say is currently reading Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury’s book on designing with plants, I can see where Rachel has gleened her philosopy of naturalistic vase arrangements. There is no line to my mind between the garden and floral designs, both of whose “arrangements” are inspired by the natural world.

Over the last few evenings I have had the pleasure of reading “The Cut Flower Sourcebook – Exceptional Perennials & Woody Plants For Cutting” by Rachel Siegfried. Clare Foster is Garden Editor at House & Garden magazine and a freelance garden journalist, and author of 4 books. If you're a budding florist or even just (like me) a homemaker who likes occasionally to do a flower arrangement, there's plenty of excellent advice. It would be great as a coffee table book too! Step by step guide to making floral arrangements, with all aspects of the composition discussed and illustrated.

Summary

I can say that this book answers these questions authoritatively. There is practical wisdom is every sentence, experience and a genuine knowledgable enthusiasm for growing that Rachel is keen to pass on. Long-lived, hardy, very easy to grow and with a graceful growing habit, it likes a moist soil but will tolerate drought once well-established. Others include a very pretty white-flowering currant known as Ribes sanguineum, “Elkington White”; an unusual variety of berberis called Berberis “Georgei” that Siegfried singles out for its yellow and coral-red berries, and the pink-catkinned Salix gracilistyla, “Mount Aso”. My belief in garden-grown cut flowers has been severely tested over the years. The vagaries of our weather, an army of pests, and high expectations from customers have certainly put my plant choices through their paces. I discovered that it was the perennials and shrubs I knew best from my work as a garden designer that met the practical challenges of growing for market. These stalwarts have also played a central role in developing my natural floral style as I moved from garden designer to flower farmer and florist.

For florists, the floral arrangements are a master class in textured combinations of colour and shape and scale. Excellent advice is given on the all important care required to achieve optimal conditioning. With the range of seasons’ we experience in this country (UK) it is ideal to know which perennials and shrubs Rachel ( pictured right) has discovered through her own particular challenges growing for the flower market. As she says in the introduction: “ These stalwarts have also played a central role in developing my natural floral style as I moved from garden designer to flower farmer and florist.” One of my greatest pleasures is walking around the garden to select flowers for the house and then enjoying them, the colours and scents, for the days to come. No matter how small our garden, many of us grow flowers specifically for cutting – my roses come to mind right away but also cosmos, dahlia, salvia and geranium. In her book, Rachel introduces us to a wide canvass of plants, in addition to the favourites we know so well. The ferny foliage of Thalictrum for example, perfect for arrangements and the robust bushy perennial Goat’s rue (Galega officinalis). Growing flowers for cutting brings the pleasures of the season indoors and cuts out the air miles associated with many shop-bought blooms. This book turns the spotlight on the best perennials and woody plants which return year after year with little effort or waste, offer valuable habitats to garden wildlife and bring a natural quality to arrangements. During the six years I spent growing cut flowers for the elite, I began to wonder why these garden-grown beauties were not more commonly available. It seemed strange that we had a slow food movement in the UK but not a floral equivalent. Surely enjoying flowers in your home should be a simple pleasure, without the environmental burden of air miles and chemicals? As a nation of gardeners, why were we so disconnected from the idea of buying flowers locally and seasonally, or even growing our own?Of course, there are plenty of useful tips on creating your very own seasonal foam-free arrangements, as well as oodles of photographs of mouth-wateringly gorgeous arrangements created by Siegfried exclusively using material from her flower farm. Very generously illustrated with lushly atmospheric images by the well-known photographer Eva Nemeth (herself a keen gardener) and published by Filbert Press, it’s destined to become a gardening classic. Chancing upon this quote by Constance Spry, I found it so relatable to my own experience. I too see myself primarily as a gardener with a love of plants and a deep connection to nature, so my floral style comes from that perspective. Working in the garden and walking my dogs in the surrounding countryside are my sources of inspiration and my design philosophy is simply about bringing some of the outside indoors. Unfortunately, these are the sort of hardworking, decorative plants whose impressively good-natured urge to grow no matter what the growing conditions has left them vulnerable to a certain kind of silly garden snootiness that values exclusivity above all else. I say silly, because these are the very kinds of plants that have proven their ability to stay the pace, even as the challenges of climate change increase.