Home grown cut flowers
The other day in a supermarket I came across bunches of white chrysanthemums which had been partially dyed blue and sprayed with glitter. I was filled with horror at this Frankenstein of the cut flower world. It鈥檚 beyond me how the sellers could think this attractive, but presumably they wouldn鈥檛 be doing it unless they thought it would sell. It got me wondering how many of us think about where that last minute bunch of blooms comes from.
Most of the cut flowers offered in supermarkets and florists in this country are imported. They are flown hundreds, maybe thousands, of miles to the UK before ending up wrapped in cellophane on the garage forecourt. The irony of course is that the UK and Ireland has a superb climate for raising cut flowers.
Decades ago, it was much more common to raise flowers in the garden for the house –and there was a wealth of market gardens selling bunches locally, but with improved transport links the trend declined and cheap imports won the day.
But the trend for locally grown flowers is coming back, fuelled by increased awareness of environmental sustainability. Cut flower market gardens are once again appearing and there is renewed interest in the beautiful flowers we can grow in the UK and Ireland.
Supporting these growers is a no brainer. We not only get to feel very worthy about buying local - thus supporting local jobs - but we will also be helping our environment as fields of cut flowers provide a welcome bounty for insects and the animals that feed on those insects.
And let’s not forget that most of us can grow our own cut flowers for about 8 months of the year. At the minute, my wife Angharad is harvesting bunches of Sweet Pea every other day, along with Orlaya grandiflora, Ammi majus, Nigella and dramatic Sunflowers.
Plants like Ammi, Cornflower and Nigella self-seed – so once you have them you won’t have to do much to get them to come back year after year and all for free! So no more dyed and glittery chrysanths, buy local or grow your own.
