Fresh flowers are an expensive treat these days. Which is why the bunch we may have treated ourselves to weekly is now a serious financial commitment. If it isn’t your birthday, or a special occasion, then there won’t be cut flowers in the house
We need to be canny and creative to fill the void, as every home needs flowers. Fake flowers aren’t much of a replacement, with the need to dust and the lack of scent and life real flowers give. You can trawl through farmer’s markets and even the supermarket hoping to score something that’s been marked down, but this takes a bit of effort and – like all fresh goods – you get what you pay for. A cut price bunch of roses may look fine by candlelight on the night of the dinner party, but they’ll be well on the way to potpourri a day later.
The best solution is to grow your own fresh flowers. This shouldn’t be as hard as it may seem. Previous generations did it all the time, picking a bunch to take with them to give to friends and family. All they needed was a sunny patch of soil and some tough old rose bushes, a lavender or two, some Baby’s Breath and they were away.
And it’s the same now. Plant any of these in your garden – or in a large planter – and give them the water they need, you will have many, many flowers to look at through the window and to cut and bring inside. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never grown anything in your life, it’s really easy, especially the roses. And that’s because we have an advantage over our parents in that there are now some modern, super tough, ultra easy rose varieties to choose from (check out the Flower Carpet rose).
That’s it. Vases full to bursting for the cost of the baby plants and a little water. The sunshine is free to all.
For more information
Anthony Tesselaar Plants Website www.tesselaar.com
