Pastels cutting garden collection
Delivery options
- Seed Packets (only) £2.95
- Position: Full sun
- Soil: Moderately fertile, moist, well-drained soil
- Rate of growth: Fast
- Flowering period: June to September
- Hardiness: Fully hardy
Introducing our exquisite pastel and cottage garden themed cut flower collection, curated for the discerning gardener and florist.
The collection contains one packet of seeds for each of the plants listed below. Each packet comes with its own specific sowing instructions.
- Centaurea cyanus ‘Blue Ball’: A double-flowering form of the traditional bright blue cornflower, ‘Double Blue’ performs wonderfully as a cottage garden annual and as a cut flower in as little as 10 to 12 weeks from a spring sowing. Grows to 1m.
- Consolida regalis ‘Fancy Purple Picotee’: An elegant and eye-catching well-branched hardy annual, with ferny, palmate mid-green leaves, and spikes of pale purple blooms edged with a darker purple. 'Fancy Purple Picotee' is a beautiful and easy to grow larkspur for the border, providing colour throughout the summer as well as wonderful flowers for cutting which last a long time in water. Grows to 1.2m.
- Lepidium sativum: Persian cress, a popular choice among floral artists, boasts sturdy branches adorned with countless silvery-green coin-like seed pods, making it an filler in bouquets and wreaths, whether fresh or dried. Grows to 1m.
- Matthiola incana ‘Apple Blossom’: Sweetly scented, pale pink packed blooms, many of which will be fully double, on strong, single stems. A cottage garden staple, stocks have long been popular both for bedding and for providing cut flowers, ‘Appleblossom pink’ would also look stunning in a dark or metallic pot as part of a contemporary scheme. Grows to 75cm.
- Ammi majus : Dainty white flowerheads that look like lacework are born in summer and seem to hover in a frothy haze above the finely cut, green foliage. The flowers are often used by florists to add a ethereal, romantic feel to bouquets, and they can last up to 10 days after being cut. Grows to 1.5m.
- Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Purity’: This popular, pure white annual cosmos makes a great filler plant for a sunny, moist but well-drained border. Dead-head 'Purity' regularly and you'll have a succession of graceful, pure white, saucer-shaped flowers up to 10cm (4in) in diameter from June to October. Grows to 1.2m.
- Antirrhinum majus 'Potomac Lavender': A delightful snapdragon with soft lavender pink blooms and long cutting stems. This Antirrhinum variety, bred for the cut flower market, bears numerous showy flowers on tall spikes that attract butterflies to the garden. Grows to 1.2m.
- Consolida regalis 'Qis Dark Blue': Bred for cut flower production, 'QIS Dark Blue' is a decadent, branching hardy annual with dissected mid-green leaves and spikes of dark blue flowers, centred with purple and finished with a bright button of golden stamens. Uniform and upright, this fabulous larkspur has long-lasting properties for cut flower vases.
- Linum perenne : A stunning semi-evergreen perennial with a profusion of beautiful, pale blue saucer-shaped flowers each dotted with a golden eye held above narrow grey-green leaves.
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.