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Growing leaves
Alexsia Mitchell
Posts: 10
in Talkback
Can anyone advise me on what I could grow in my small surburban back garden in order to have leaves to cut and use in flower arrangements? I'm sorry if this sounds odd but I often have a few flowers I can use in a vase but they do need some greenery with them!
Any help would be appreciated but I have to confess I do not have green fingers so can only manage simple things.
Many thanks.
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Posts
Hi Alexsia
It doesn't sound odd at all - I know exactly what you mean - when you say you have a small back garden, what size roughly is it, what sort of soil do you have and which way does it face - how much sun/shade do you have, and is the soil moist most of the time or does it dry out?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The garden is 40 ft wide x 25 deep and faces south west. I have a small plot in one corner 2ft x 4ft which gets full sun early morning until mid afternoon (late afternoon in high summer) which is where I want to grow something leafy. The soil seems in good condition and not too dry - I used to have a retired gentleman who kept the garden in order for me and he would fork in a dressing every year, not sure what but it was a bit smelly and probably came from his son's farm. I'm afraid I don't lknow more than that. Thank you for responding.
PS. I have a bungalow and there are no taller houses to block out light or cast long shadows.
I find Alchemilla mollis good in flower arrangements. The leaves alone are lovely, though maybe a bit short stemmed if you want the big ones, but as the flowers are green you can pick a whole spray and it helps to bulk out the display. And the colour goes with anything. And it grows anywhere (and everywhere!) without any attention except a shearing back after flowering, when it will put up fresh leaves.
If you live somewhere warm enough you could grow pittosporum, which has pretty little leaves, and Eucalyptus too(loads of species), if you coppice it to keep it short. This also gives you larger leaves
Hi Buttercup,
Thank you so much for your suggestions. I shall have great fun on the internet looking up the plants you have mentioned. Although I haven't tended the garden myself before I am looking forward to learning how to do things.
Fennel. It will get tall but lovely ferny foliage and smells wonderful. Easy and perennial. You can even get bronze fennel. Easy to direct sow and then pull up all but one plant.
Hi Watery,
I adore fennel but have never thought of using its leaves. As you say, it smells wonderful and the leves really are pretty. It sounds ambitious for a beginner but I can look up the planting instructions and see if it's within my limited range. Thanks for th suggestion.
Alexsia - I've always grown Fatsia which has large, bold leaves for a dramatic look in flower arrangements. They last well too. I often use them just to bulk out the space in a vase but they also give a good contrast to the flower.
They get big but you can prune them back. Shady spot that doesn't get too dry is ideal for them
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Alexsia, re fennel - make sure you get the 'herb' fennel and not the vegetable Florence Fennel. The herb fennel is dead easy to grow - scatter the seeds and stand well back
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Last year I threw some fennel seeds down in the border and now I have a 5 ft high plant. It's that easy. I didn't do anything to it. You could probably start it off in pots to be sure of success but don't need to. If you scatter some seeds over a small area and see what germinates and then you won't need to leave more than 1 or 2 and it's easy to recognize and easy to pull out. It will also self-sow but if you don't want that, you can cut the flowers off before they set seed. Or keep them and collect the seeds!