June Update

JUNE

Working at scale, roses, and a nod to Vita.

Photoshoots, bouquets for the opera house, new music from Jade just in time for Glasto, and the second season of my guilty pleasure America’s Sweetheart’s Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (poms poms at the ready), June in all its full, scented glory didn’t disappoint.

The roses in both the garden and the field have flowered continuously; an upshot of the dry and hot weather being that they haven’t been damaged by rain, and it’s been sublime to see them in their faded glory. Woven amongst the border with digitalis alba and Sutton’s Apricot, we’ve created our own homage to Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst. The aim is to extend this idea to the field, with rows of roses and digitalis, underplanted with low-growing perennials, straddling the idea of the functionality of a cut flower field with a more relaxed garden aesthetic. 

Akebia Quinata, Elder, Rosa ‘Mokarosa’, ‘Koko Loko’, ‘Queen of Sweden’, ‘Tottering-by-gently’, ‘Imogen’, ‘Sally Holmes’, Oenothera lindheimeri, Silene vulgaris, Allium ‘Art’, Calamagrostis × acutiflora 'Karl Foerster', Sidalcea ‘Rosaly’, Sanguisorba ‘Pink Tanna’, Bupleurum longifolium ‘Bronze Beauty’, Phlomis russeliana, Thalictrum ‘Elin’, Koenigia alpina, Cephalaria gigantea, Echinacea pallida.

One of my favourite things to do is to make at scale, and what greater treat than to make an entrance arch at Broadwell Manor, a Georgian Manor House nestled in Cotswolds. The brief was an airy installation which celebrated everything that was at it’s peak in the field. The perennials planted last year have started to produce in much greater volume, so it was the first time I’ve been able to cut the elegant echinacea pallida, generous stems of cephalaria gigantea, statuesque thalictrum ‘Elin’ and persicaria alpina with its fluffy white blooms. The latter three all have hollow stems, so a quick sear in boiling water when harvesting helps to flush out any air bubbles and aid their hydration, giving them a better vase life.

The crux of working at scale is always mechanics - get those right and everything becomes infinitely easier. A metal stand weighed down with small concrete planters proved sufficient for this asymmetrical arch, with kenzans supporting the larger flowering stems along with some strategically placed wires anchoring the elder branches.

Other garden favourites this month have been lilium martagon - thriving in both shade and sun, papaver orientale ‘Patty’s Plum’ - better in sun, struggled a touch in shade but has grown in a more interesting shape as a result as it’s reached for the light, and the honeysuckle, lonicera x americana. One stem of this generous and easy-to-grow climber in a bud vase and the kitchen has been full of sweet fragrance all week. 

From left to right: Lilium martagon 'Arabian Night’, Papaver Orientale ‘Patty’s Plum’,  Lonicera x americana.

Since renovating our flat in 2021, we’ve been keen customers and avid fans of paint company Atelier Ellis, so it was such a thrill to be asked by founder and owner Cassandra Ellis to provide floral pieces for her shoot with House and Garden at her Bath townhouse. Shot in March, the arrangements were full of muddy heuchera leaves, full and heavy tulips, early blossom and delicate snowdrops.

A dream assignment.

Full article linked.

With July on the horizon, I’m looking forward to the lull after June’s zenith, time to recalibrate and assess what’s done well for this first climax of the year, before revving up again for a busy wedding season in August.

Thanks for reading.

© Andy Monaghan. All rights reserved.

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