March
That endearing quality that March has, sliding from Winter to Spring in a changeable flurry of hail storms, heat waves, rain and shine, it’s a month of transformation. It started with camellias and paperwhites and ends with the first tulips and fritillaries- so many mini-seasons rolled into a short few weeks, and it had me chasing my tail trying to catch up. By the second week of March, I found myself looking over the dark of the field in the middle of the night. With project deadlines looming, being behind on seed sowing schedules, perennials languishing in their pots, and many of the expansion plans I had for this year looking further out of reach of achieving, I was finding it hard to sleep. I decided to close the nationwide shop for new orders until I had got on top of everything.
I don’t know why I found it such a hard decision to make, but it was. Something about the connection with my lovely customers, I’m sure, keeping a metaphorical open-door policy, welcoming correspondence always, and not willing to shut that off in any way. There has been something hugely symbolic of being able to send my flowers from you to your loved ones, and I didn’t want to lose that, especially when I’m relying on that kind of support to keep on doing what I do at this time. BUT, having said that, it was immediately a huge relief, and I got a lot of my list done without orders to process every day. I kept up with local orders, so I still got to make flowers for people, which was plenty to see me through.
This Winter passed had seemed so long, longer than any Winter I’ve lived through- and I’m sure I’m not alone in that feeling- and March bought with it a few days of jumper shedding sunshine, and all felt ok again for a while. The warm touch of sun on the skin, long missed, felt full of longing and familiarity- so damn nice. Sunshine from the flowers too, in all the shades of yellow. From the swathes of Narcissus pseudonarcissus that paint their way in splashes up the steep side of the field to the bright, waxy aconites, brilliantly shiny and winking at us from the garden beds amongst the tete-a-tete daffodils, primroses and wallflowers.
This may not be a beautiful photo of flowers, but it’s my favourite photo from March- a beautiful image of better irrigation being put in with my friend Scottie’s help. This will be a gamechanger in Summer- no more lugging a hose around at 5 am! The taps will have timers and a mixture of drip tapes and soaker hoses running through the growing beds. I couldn’t be happier or more proud- even if this is the last thing I manage to achieve this year, then that’s a win for 2021
Narcissus ‘Replete’
Remember some 10,00 bulbs I got planted in the ground last Autumn? Well, they are THRIVING and have been gracing the few local clients orders I’ve been honouring. Speaking of local orders, as of next week, market bunches of my flowers will be available at Wild Sussex again. The best shop in the county. I’m thrilled. So if you’re a local, get ordering. You local’s get the best deals on my blooms because it makes me happy having almost zero carbon footprint on them, so I want you to have them the most.
Jimmy and Stella have been enjoying the spurts of warmer weather; they're both exceptionally good at sunbathing. After excessive escaping to go on solo adventures and having ripped my nerves to shreds, turning up a couple of hours later, we've put 8 ft poles up at every gate and weak link around the perimeter so that Jimmy is now fully locked in. He's become especially needy in the wake of this new, more confined world of his and won't leave my side tapping my leg with his paw and asking for hugs all the time. I keep telling him I'm busy and have things to do, but he never listens. Lucky he makes me laugh so much.
A bit of dahlia patch organisation, inspired by the team at Floret, and the unbelievable picture of the colour-coded Dahlia Field in their new book, Discovering Dahlias. The field is colour coded to find specific varieties with more ease, and it looks so beautiful. I visually organise plantings anyway, but usually digitally. It was nice following Floret's suit by printing out the photos of varieties- it made moving things around fun and easy and was a lovely way to fill those endless lockdown evenings; now I cant wait to see it in flower! The warmer burgundy and reds will be on one side of my patch for them, and the cooler-toned pinks will be on the other, with buff, rusts, yellows and oranges in the centre.
That was March, and April is already skimming by quickly. The month of blossom and tulips, and it’s my very, very favourite. I’ll be soaking every bit of it in, I hope you can too.