Rudbeckias make truly wonderful, very long-flowering cut flowers. Belonging to the sunflower family, they come in a sumptuous mix of mahogany, nutmeg, yellow and burnt marmalade colours. Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’ is one of my favourite flowers, with

As tempting as it might be to simply toss a selection of seeds into the soil for a random, ‘country meadow’ patch, a little planning will let you maximise the amount of flowers you can harvest, and will also keep your plants happy by ensuring they ha

Fresh petal confetti is a fantastic alternative to the shopbought, paper variety. It’s equally effective with a mix of shades and shapes or with just one colour. Flowers that work particularly well are roses, individual delphinium heads and sweet pea

Think in manageable squares as even a small piece of ground can make you feel unsure where to start. For the sake of easy maths, I divide my patch into squares of 25x25cm. So my 2x2m plot becomes a grid of eight by eight squares. I draw this out on a

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Dahlias are the highlight of the late summer. Keep picking them and one dahlia tuber will produce hundreds of flowers. I grow dahlias in nearly all their shapes and forms, from delicate singles to the gravity-defying ‘dinner plate’ varieties. Dahlias

Cultivating a flower patch is inexpensive and eco-friendly, so replacing plastic seedling pots with recycled paper versions is sure to appeal. Each pot takes less than two minutes to make, and when it’s time to plant out your seedlings you can simply

It’s the wettest day of the winter when we visit Hartley Farm near Bradford-on-Avon. We’ve come to meet Grace Farrimond, co-owner of Young Blooms, a gem of a florists adopted by the renowned farm shop. Almost there, we pass Grace’s growing patch, the

Roses are arguably some of the best (I would say the best, of course) of all garden plants. After all, what else can potentially have a beautiful flower, a wonderful fragrance, be easy to look after and flower for five or six months of the year? I ce

One of my favourites, Amaranthus caudatus produces long, soft tassels. You may have seen the widespread crimson version that gives it its common name but try the fresh, acid-green ‘Viridis’ as a much better mixer – it subtly enhances whites and blues

Beautiful and practical, this woven tote bag is just the thing to take into your flower patch to transport freshly picked blooms back to the house ready to be arranged. Sturdy and spaciously designed, each bag is individually handmade so no two are t

Floristry courses and workshops are the best way to expand your skills, and they come with the bonus that you’ll meet others who share your new obsession. Learning comes in all sorts of formats, so we called on the expert help of Rachel Wardley, foun

The process of making a flower arrangement involves many of the same principles that go into making fine art, and that’s why the term ‘painterly’ is how I like to describe my style of arranging. I can remember standing, transfixed, in front of Monet’

Panicum elegans is a beautiful, airy grass that forms great puffs of green. It’s one of the most productive foliage plants you can add to your cutting patch and one of the best upper-storey foliage plants for cutting. Just add three to five stems to

The vases we use for our arrangements are as important as the flowers we select to put into them. We look for containers, vessels and vases all over the place – car boots, charity shops, eBay, the flower market, antique shops, flea markets… When we w

Your choice of container is going to add so much to the look of any flower display you create. There are no rights or wrongs here – it’s good to go with what appeals to you and fits with the scale of your flowers. You’ll only need a few shapes to sta

Your flower patch will be beautiful to look at but you should think of it as a place to harvest a crop. To maximise your haul, you’ll need to consider these points when choosing where to plant… * A sunny situation is a must, with a minimum of six hou

Snapdragons are invaluable for their full flower spikes, which last well over a week in water. Look out for the elegant, single-colour florist’s varieties and avoid dwarf forms (often sold as bedding plants) as the stem won’t be long enough for cutti

What’s so lovely about arranging in this shape container is that you can make the display quite low and place it as a centrepiece on a table, but also go taller and use it on a mantelpiece, bar or windowsill. We particularly like adding a splash of c

As a flower writer and photographer, immersing myself in the incredible array of beautiful floral images on Instagram is something I just can’t resist. And to follow the personal stories of my favourite Instagrammers, week by week, is such a privileg