Foamy Flowers

For a wedding in Wales this week we created foamy, frothy flowers in soft shades of pink and cream, with generous foliages in the form of fronds and tendrils.  Fluffy white-and-pink hydrangeas, globular old-fashioned roses, sparkly panicum grass and creamy phlox creme brulee all featured strongly.  It was sheer girlish pleasure to create!

For a smaller wedding at the magical Walcot Hall, just down the road from our garden in South Shropshire, the colour theme was white and blue, with silvery eucalyptus foliage and fragrant lavender.  The neat, sparkling posies and buttonholes looked completely different to the romantic fullness of the Welsh wedding.

Also worthy of reporting is that the definite change in the weather is having a wonderfully rejuvenating effect on the garden and the flowers.  This evening I was picking zinnias for an order, and found many stems that were over a metre long!  The snapdragons are coming back to life again, and the dahlias are being unbelievably prolific.  The blackberries are coming to an end now and their long exploring shoots are being cut back to create light and space and air in which the autumn flowers - and especially the dahlias - will be able to thrive.  many perennials are producing tentative second crops for us to enjoy, including delphiniums, yarrow and lady's mantle.  These second flushes are sparse and the flower stems are much shorter than those produced in early summer, but we are nonetheless grateful for the beautiful blooms.