The day the flowers came

Hello! It’s been a little while since I last posted, I didn’t intentionally mean to take a break but working outside and following the process of our art journalling season took me away from my camera and lets face it, there haven’t been that many flowers to capture during the winter months.

That’s not to say its been flower free, each week I have continued to provide a weekly jar and table flowers to Food by John Lawson. Providing weekly flowers has made me look past the obvious beauty of summer blooms focusing on creating with the textures and tones that the garden has been offering in gentle abundance. The leaves of Olive, Senecio cineraria and Bay have provided an earthy backdrop for the occasional Stock, Paperwhite and Hellebore – I mean to talk in single stem. Rosehips have got me through, each one glinting like jewels and changing hue as the season passes. The hips have now finished but its worth making a note to choose a rose based on its flower and hips to extend the length of the season and provide some winter colour.

My weekly deliveries have been an exercise in really looking at the garden in detail to see what performs in the bleakest months and what I can grow all year round. A stash of Paperwhites started in the bin cupboard have been in flower for about 6 weeks and are just flopping or passing the baton to their outdoor counterparts, the daffodils and narcissi. These hellebore have been flowering for the past few weeks and have given some much needed pretty to February days – I’ve added a big note in my flower growing book to add more to the garden. This winter has taught me that even though the flowers stop officially in November there is a really deliacte winter season still happening. It feels like a whisper at the moment but armed with my new learnings I hope will become more of a shout in the winters to come.