When the Harvests Come Home

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By subscribing, you’re helping to support my work as both a grower and floral artist. In return, I share longer journal-style posts throughout the month, weaving together practical growing advice, flower drying, creativity and the changing seasons from my little corner of Devon.

The summer of 2026, which actually started in May, will likely go down as one of the hardest years to grow cut flowers in. Certainly in my own records, which now stretch back over six years..

The heat arrived with force in May. A month that historically would see blue skies alongside plenty of rain and lovely warmish temperatures. These warming temperatures, combined with steady rainfall, create the perfect environment for our seedlings to develop and grow long, strong roots to support them during the dryer months.

This May we got something very different. It was dry. And hot, hotter than I can ever remember it being before, certainly so early in the year.

Nearly three months on, and that heat, whilst ebbing and flowing, has stayed at a sustained level.

As many of you who have been on this journey with me will know, I grow as many of my own flowers as I possibly can. My business was in fact born out of my love of gardening and as the creative side has flourished, I have tried where possible to keep the growing going.

Whilst this year has brought many positives from a growing perspective, the lack of rain and relentless heat have placed a strain on my days in a way that has become almost impossible to manage.

I grow across two sites. Here at home I have raised beds in a corner of our plot, furthest away from my main sources of water. And at the allotment, a few miles away I have two plots, with access to water right at the end of one of my plots but all the same they both have to be watered by hand.