British flowers from Plantpassion

I've mentioned Claire from Plantpassion before - she was one of the hardworking flower growers at the Flowers from the Farm stand at Hampton Court Flower Show this year, showcasing some of the best British flowers of the summer. I visited her flower farm in spring, but it was raining by the time I thought to take photos of her field, and I had to leave when the kind florist who was giving me a lift to the train station was leaving!

Claire's been on a photography course with Emma Davies, and she sent me a lovely photo of her field now. It's looking wonderful!

Of course when I went in spring it was full of different flowers - tulips in all sorts of colours, cerinthe, early cornflowers, and loads of apple mint. I did take photos in the polytunnel, and I was amazed by all of the dahlia pots (there were many more than the ones in this photo)...looking at the recent photo of the field, I can see Claire's hard work has paid off!

There were ranunculus, more cornflowers, and anemones.

And giant ammi.

There were also plenty of seedlings - chrysanthemums, gladioli, and more.

And lots of herbs.

If you live in Surrey, Claire's farm is well worth a visit, especially if you are a florist or you are planning to do flowers for an event. You'll find gorgeous flowers that you might not find elsewhere, and a grower with more than twenty years' experience in horticulture. Claire is ever so friendly too, which is a bonus! She will be holding an open afternoon on Sunday 21 September, so you can see the flowers in the flesh.

Tall Ships Festival in Greenwich

There was a festival of tall ships in Greenwich (aka Greenwich Regatta), which finished earlier this week. I went to see them, and I've never seen Greenwich so packed!

A boat ride was a great way to see them (although it meant queuing up for an hour), and it also meant I got to travel along the east side of the river; when I've been on Thames boat rides before, it's always been up to Westminster.

It was exciting to go through the Thames Barrier (which is a bit of a sad confession).

I remember when it opened, and we used to go to the visitor's centre and the cafe some days...a cheap, family afternoon out! Somewhere I have a photo of me and my German penfriend going down the slide together in the early 90s. The slide is still there.

Back to the ships.

The Woolwich Ferry put out the bunting to welcome them.

I've no idea about the history of the different ships; it was just nice to see them.

The Day of the Triffids

I mentioned the mammoth cosmos in my little flower patch last month. Well, here I am on Sunday next to cosmos which were transplanted from greenhouse-grown seedlings into a trough, with shop-bought compost...

...and next to cosmos in the flower patch that was filled with homemade compost. Probably a bit too much.

Look at those stems...if there was an apocalypse, these would be triffids!

Of course, cosmos are lovely flowers, and not carnivorous; unlike these plants that I saw on the Hampshire Carnivorous Plants stand at the RHS Wisley Show at the weekend.

Guinness, Cariad and the Wizard of Oz

I did a bouquet for a Welsh lady who loves going on holiday to Dublin. 'Cariad' David Austin roses in an old Guinness fudge tin was my plan, but I only had a few stems of roses. So I picked as many pink and white flowers from the garden as I could, and topped up with dahlias and asters I'd bought from the market. I liked the idea of clashing shades of pink, and lots of frothy flowers and panicum, in a less Barbara Cartland-ish container.

The pale pink dahlia with the yellow centre is called Wizard of Oz - it's a beautiful flower. I don't know the name of the other variety, but it's a fabulous bright salmon colour.

These striking flowers below are pink asters (aka September flower, as it is the birth flower for September). They last well in water and floral foam, and come in other colours, such as white and purple. Both the dahlias and asters are British - you should be able to get them from your local grower for another few weeks.

One of my favourite parts of floristry is the moment after you've finished conditioning all of your flowers, and you look at the buckets of beauty you have to work from.

I made a posy of dahlias and asters.

And I put the leftover cosmos in a bottle - I love the movement of the stems and the pretty, colourful flowerheads.

Brogdale in August

I visited the national fruit collection at Brogdale earlier last month. There are a few photos here, but I have many more to share! It was lovely to see the trees bearing fruit, after my trip in April to see the blossom. The scent was even stronger this time. Orchards full of 2200 varieties of apples = the most wonderful apple scent you could imagine.

If you go on a guided tour, you can see more trees close up and also taste some of the fruit. Self-guided tours are also available, but you have to stick to the path and cannot taste the fruit (not least because you won't know which have recently been sprayed and can't be eaten for a few days). Fortunately, there was no one else wanting a guided tour on the day I visited, so the lovely Tony was able to share his knowledge with me and indulge me as I stopped to take photos every minute! Last time I forgot to take one camera; this time I took two.

I shared a photo of the medlar tree blossom the last time I visited. This time it was in fruit and it looked lovely out in the car park.

Medlars aren't exactly a popular fruit, but Nigel Slater has a medlar tree and sometimes shares recipes, including this one for medlar jelly. He serves it with pheasant, which I wouldn't try as I'm a vegetarian, but it makes me think of an episode of Father Ted.

Mrs Doyle: You do like pheasant, don't you, Father?
Father Ted: Pheasant? I love pheasant.
Mrs Doyle: Well there's a little clue. The thing you'll be eating likes pheasant as well.

Apple blossom is probably my favourite blossom because it smells so sweet. I took photos of several varieties of apple blossom in the spring, including Montreal Beauty. I didn't find it this time, but I did take photos of beautiful Irish Peach apples. I was surprised to find apple trees bearing (edible) fruit so early.

This P.J.Bergius apple is Snow White-worthy red!

These stunning apples are Thortlepippin, which sounds like the name of a 70s children's TV show.

It doesn't look very pink here, but Lady Williams is the pink-skinned apple below which, when bred with Golden Delicious, becomes Pink Lady. After reading this article, I'm not so keen on the idea of buying Pink Lady apples in future, as much as I prefer sweet apples. Adam, who writes the wonderful blog Adam's Apples, has also written about Pink Lady, or rather Cripps Pink (the variety is called Cripps Pink after the breeder John Cripps, but the trademark name is Pink Lady).

And crab apples, beloved of florists for autumn arrangements, were on display too. The first one is called Maruba.

There were also apples trained along wire fences.

You know when they say the hottest place in the UK is Gravesend, or wherever? Well, when the hottest place is Brogdale, as it was on 10 August 2014 (just six days after my visit), this is the weather station that confirms that. On that August day, Brogdale was 101 degrees Fahrenheit, beating Heathrow Airport's double-figures record.

Back to the fruit, and the best thing about this visit was the plums. I got to taste varieties I would never normally get the chance to try, and they were all nicer than the ones I've bought from a supermarket. This was the wonderful sight of two plum trees grown in different ways, hence little and large.

This plum doesn't have a proper name; just the label V72331. I tried it and it was delicious.

This one is called Czar, which would go quite nicely with the Russian Greengage in the taster post!

In April I took a photo of Mirabelle d'Octobre. The mirabelle is a type of plum. This time I tasted some mirabelles, including this one: Mirabelle de Metz. They are delicious and quite sweet.

A greengage that I also tasted was Newark. Sweet sunshine on a tree!

In the spring, I saw an ornamental pear tree that had leaves like an olive tree. Here it is in August, bearing fruit.

And the final tree: Malus White Star. Tony told me a story about this crab apple, which I'm afraid to say I've completely forgotten. If you go on a tour with him, maybe he'll tell you and you can report back!

I'll leave you with my fruit haul: I rarely eat my five a day, but it was much easier after this visit.