May

The month of blossom and seasonal shifts, the April showers that never came finally arrived with a determination and purpose in May. The month was a blur of hail and wind and rain, blossoms dashed and nipped in the bud. It was a tough one with frosts right through the month, wreaking havoc on plans and timings. The whole month was a tantalising tease, making me question if spring would ever really arrived, but the tulips and ranunculus loved it- sticking around for weeks longer than usual, and I’ll take that as a big win.

The tulips were beautiful this year, made all the more exquisite for the slowness and quietness in their show- no heatwaves to blow them out and over; they lingered long and lovely. I’ve been making notes on perennial tulips- this one above is Ivory Floradale and Salmon Van Eijk, the blooms are enormous on both, and what’s more, they come back year after year. I opened up the books for fresh deliveries again, with smaller market bunches heading to Wild Sussex, and gift bouquets and arrange your own boxes of flowers heading out to local and national. I’d forgotten quite how much energy it takes to wake and harvest at dawn, process and condition, and wrap and ship. I’m glad to get the flowers out there again, though, and every order has helped to continue growing here.

Weddings returned, and I got to flower my first weddings since last September. For Mathilde and Aaron, Sophie and Will. It was a pleasure, and there are plenty more to come this summer! There’s something exquisite about raising crops in the name of love, and I love the creativity that comes with making flowers for specific people too. I’m fully booked for full-service weddings this year, but I still have a bit of space in Late Summer / Early Autumn for bouquets and buckets.

I love May for bringing the colours back to the garden. It’s been fun building palettes with an endless choice to work with, and as the leaves turned yellow and green, the canopy stitched back together, the spring bulbs put on a show in a kaleidoscope of shades and tones; suddenly a plethora of paints to play with after a winter of colour scarcity. I knew it would come and go all too soon and grabbed as many moments to get my own practice in without the constraints of a customer or brief. I’m thankful for the routine of Windowsill Wednesday for forcing my hand on that time each week, but I’d like to make time for a design practice every day, even if it’s a tiny chanced moment… I feel there’s a bit more work to be done on my time management skills before that dream will become a reality though! May is especially difficult to juggle time well, with the last sowings to make, pricking out and endless planting out, staying on top of the tending along with the first huge harvests of the year to make and get to customers; I haven’t slept much, and sleep tends to get priority over the practice.

The small courtyard garden at the back door was a welcoming sight this month—the tubs, filled to the brim with sweet narcissus, followed by blowsy tulips and wallflowers. I plant pansies on top in the winter, and once the narcissus and tulips come up, they push and stretch up the stems on the pansies, giving me long and workable stems, which found their way into a few centrepieces for the yet to be revealed project I've been working away on. They grew and changed daily, and the joy they bought was immense. It's time to order your spring bulbs for next year, and even if they're for just a handful of pots, it really is worth it for the colour, scent and beauty they can bring to corners of our lives. Try H W Hyde, based in West Sussex, for some interesting varieties.

And Jimmy, oh Jim. Jim had a bit of a tough month, but he’s on the mend and sweeter than ever. I think he’s turning into a very handsome chap, a really good boy, even if he loses his cool every time he sees another dog/human/potential friend. He’s just too gregarious for his own good, and was clearly born in the wrong era for socialising. In the meantime, I will continue to be his personal entertainment system, and in return, he knows just how to pose to make my flowers look extra good.