At last it looks as if the weather is set fair for awhile and next week there will be warm temperatures and a rest from the battering rain and winds. This week the stall will be at Sofacoma Market off Lake St with home sown flowers and plants. All are raised on Oxford’s doorstep without the use of pesticides or herbicides in peat free compost. See below for more detail on what’s available.

If you would like to pre-order for pick up at the market or free delivery within 5 miles of Oxford, please email me at: thedevelopingplot@gmail.com

Flowers

Beautiful, bright field grown tulips, the first of the ranunculus, scented narcissi, along with fresh foliage and blossom will be just some of the ingredients in this week’s seasonal, local bunches and bouquets.

Prices:

Jam Jars: £6.00

Pickle Jars: £10.00

Bouquets: start at £15.00 up to £30 gift wrapped

Bouquet in a vase: start at £25.00

Bespoke flowers and flowers for events – just contact me to discuss.

Plants

Annuals:

The first small pots of annuals, grown from seed, priced between £1.00 – £1.50

These are in either 7 or 9cm pots and, apart from the nasturtium, have been hardened off and are ready to plant out now to establish quickly. The nasturtium will need to protecting from frost.

Pictures show what the young plants will look like once in flower.

Strawflower, Apricot mix: a truly lovely strawflower which is wonderful both fresh and dried. This is a warm mix of pretty peach and apricot flowers on long, strong stems. Also known as everlasting flowers, the colour and shape of these papery blooms will last indefinitely when dried. They make an attractive impact in the garden and will flower until the first hard frosts. I am planting mine out next week, but will protect them if there is a hard frost forecast. Strawflowers like to be positioned in full sun, but will tolerate some shade. They can grow to over 3 foot tall. £1.25 a 7cm pot

Ammi majus: a superb annual, bearing dainty white flowers reminiscent of lacework or a more refined cow parsley above finely cut fern like leaves . It is a lovely cottage garden plant which adds a light airiness to a garden border. It grows best in well-drained soil in sun or partial shade. Allow seeds to develop to save and sow the following year, but if you leave some finches are likely to come to your garden to feast on them in winter.

Cerinthe Major: a lovely unfussy plant which gently self seeds – once planted it will come back again and again. A pretty filler in the border and the vase, its purple bell-like flowers are a magnet for bees and othe pollinators. It has attractive silvergrey/green leaves which often have a blue wash. It flowers early and long and can grow up to 18 inches. Space plants between 9 & 12 ins apart. They enjoy sun, but do well in almost any position apart from deep shade. £1.25 a 7cm pot; 1.50 a 9cm pot

Nasturtium Black Velvet: a sumptuous, richly dark flowered nasturtium which is great for containers or towards the front of a border. This is a half hardy annual so does need hardening off and protection from frost. It can grow up to 12 inches and has a slightly trailing habit. As well as being beautiful, it is also edible and its flowers and leaves make a delicious (and pretty) addition to salads. £1.25 a 7cm pot.

Violas: dainty, extremely lovely plants which have flowers in a range of pinks, whites and purples. Perfect for containers and for gaps at the front of borders. Extremely hardy, they have been out all Winter and are beginning to flower profusely. With regular dead heading they will continue to do this for months. Once they get straggly towards the end of the season, cut them back and they will regrow strongly. They can also be left to self seed. £1.00 a 7cm pot and £4.00 in a vintage terracotta pot.

There will also be a few pots of sweet peas (the last for this year) £1.50 for 2 sturdy seedlings.

Perennials

All these are also grown by me in peat free compost from either seeds, cuttings or divisions. They are all tough and reliable and suited to local growing conditions.

There will be a range of hardy perennials available in different sized pots. Prices start at £2.50 for a 9cm pot; £3.50 a 1 litre pot and £6.50 a 2 litre pot. A selection of some of the perennials available:

Nepeta Walkers Low: a magnet for pollinators, it is alive with bees and other beneficial insects for weeks. It has deep violet to lilac-blue summer flowers and aromatic mid-green leaves. This catmint makes an excellent, long-flowering plant for a border. Cut back after its first flush in June, it flowers through to early autumn. Useful as an informal, scented edge for paths. Likes sun, but can tolerate some shade, it grows to around 2 feet tall.

Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’ : a long flowering,  clump-forming, herbaceous perennial which produces an abundance of upward and outward facing, peachy-orange flowers from late Spring to Autumn. Carried on branched sprays, they rise well above the healthy mound of deep green, slightly fuzzy leaves. It is loved by pollinators and is a wonderful bullet proof plant. It tolerates part shade and flourishes in the clay soil in my garden

Centaurea ‘Jordy’ (Knapweed): another cottage garden favourite and pollinator magnet. Magnificent, deepest plum-purple flowers top upright stems in late spring and early summer above bushy clumps of foliage. Cut back to the ground after flowering and a second flush may appear. Lift and divide large clumps every three years in spring. Likes full sun, but does well on our clay soil in part shade – it probably doesn’t grow up to its full 45cm potential though.

Hardy Geranium (name lost): beautiful, muted dusky pink with copper toned markings on leaves. My favourite hardy geranium which is well behaved and excellent for the front of a border forming a lovely, healthy clump. Once flowered, cut back and it will return for another show of flowers.

Hardy Geranium, Phaeum: a beautiful and striking hardy perennial which grows to around 18ins in both sun and part shade in any type of soil. Its unusual dark flowers are prolific and if you cut it down to the base after its first flowering in May/June it will flower generously again.

Campanula Persicifolia, blue: a very reliable and very pretty herbaceous perennial which is much tougher than it looks. It forms clumps from which it sends up straight stems with green, lance-shaped foliage and numerous large, outward facing, rich blue, bell-shaped single flowers providing a long flowering display in summer. An easy to grow plant that tolerates a range of soils and different positions in the garden including light shade. Can be easily divided to create new plants and is also good for beneficial insects.

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