Flower presses, posies and petals
During lockdown over the summer I avoided social media because I was finding it a bit much. But I’ve been busy in my workshop and garden!
Sussex garden
I’ve been getting back on top of my garden, which had been neglected due to work and kids. One of the first things I did was prune hard my Rosa mundi, meaning I had no flowers to dry this year. I did pick a few sprigs of The Fairy, a tiny pale pink rose which blooms in clusters. Not sure what I’m going to do with them yet!
Pressing flowers – dried and fresh
My long-standing pressed flower suppliers for daisyshop.co.uk have now retired, so I’ve been experimenting with pressing flowers from my own garden to sell. I also realised that certain dried flowers such as lavender and sea lavender, and some grasses can be pressed if dampened first.
Pressed flowers from our shop were on TV in the Netflix drama Enola Holmes starring Millie Bobby Brown this summer.
Potpourri making in print
I have been making potpourri from my garden as usual this summer, and was excited to be interviewed for Flora magazine about potpourri – apparently it’s big business these days!
In the workshop
In my dried flowers workshop I have been hanging up cottage garden blooms to dry and photographing interesting seed heads and petals.
The sweet williams didn’t make attractive bunches once dry but I think I will be able to use the flower heads alone for potpourri making. The cornflowers I have tried before. I absolutely love the intense blue colour but I can’t justify selling them because they feel so light and brittle to handle and are rather droppy.
Making dry posies
In the workshop I sometimes get left with some loose stems of dried flowers. I love to grab a handful to make a little posy.
Read more about my garden and the flowers I like to grow
Find out more about pressing flowers
Update 2022 – Pressed flower successes