October flower bouquets

Note to self. Avoid bramble injuries in your digits which are used to unlock your passwords on the computer.

I have only now just pulled the sticking plaster from my finger as I haven’t been able to do phone banking, password opening or any useful computer work.

And that means the October flower bouquet fest I have been promising is so late.

But it’s worth the wait. Trust me.

Absurd dahlia-tastic delights.

I have no idea how many I can show you from the month of bouquets I have been producing.

Do I sort by colour?

These reds are my favourites this month.

The grasses and the sedums and suddenly about three different reds and maroon dahlias crammed into the vases.

And early in October I even had some Gertrude Jekyll roses on the bushes.

But the majority of the delights were the orange Sylvias. Mixed in with other similar colours.

Here is an action shot of picking one morning.

Aren’t they sumptuous?

I think next year I’m going to combine all the orange dahlias in the one flower bed. Just to give myself a visual delight.

And these ridiculous dahlias finally emerged from their summer slumber.

They don’t last long in the vase. In fact I suspect I trail petals wherever I go.

I even had some zinnias which did not thrive all summer. I need to rethink my cut flower placement of the zinnias. They just don’t produce as much as I would like.

Luckily the helichrysums have been producing little and often the whole season.

I have a huge bunch of them just above my head as I type.

And I’ll finish with my bouquet for Danièle. It was a mix of fresh and dried flowers – achillea and statice, plus willow and even some of the coleus foliage from the plants in the potting shed.

Hopefully they will bring a smile to everyone visiting the little village cemetery this week.