My Tiny Flower Garden

Beautiful blooms in surprisingly small spaces

Matt Collins, Roo Lewis

• Publisher: Pavilion
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781911595199
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Horticulture
• Index: Biological Sciences

Think you don't have enough room for beautiful blooms? My Tiny Flower Garden is bursting with amazing ideas and savvy solutions to help you transform any small space into a floral feast.
With colourful cutting patches, sweet-scented city streets and pickup trucks perfect for pollinators, we've unearthed 25 amazing unconventional plots. Meet the couple packing pavements with flowers, the landscape architect who has constructed a meadow in the middle of London, and the Detroit florists who created an awe-inspiring installation in an abandoned building (before deconstructing the site and turning the land into a community flower farm).
You'll pick up all the best tips and tricks as each gardener shares their small-scale expertise, from crafty containers and sequential displays to expert advice on establishing creative community spaces. Plus, practical projects including seed bombs, a pallet planter and a homemade flower press will ensure that every inch of your space is always in bloom.
Whether you're looking for a floral fix or a bee-friendly bed, get inspired, let your imagination grow and enjoy your tiny flower garden.

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

For many of us, there simply isn’t enough room to create the flower beds we would like. Growing in containers offers a simple way to satisfy our green-fingered fancies. But why stick to the conventional plant pots? As long as the basic requirements are provided, you’ll find that plants are not fussy about the spaces they’re grown in, and there’s an opportunity to get crafty with some of the least likely items. With a range of alternative planters and tips for maximizing their floral capacity, the gardeners in this chapter present a new take on an old convention.

TRUNK TREASURES

Mixing a bright array of flowers, Alex’s reclaimed trunk is an eye-catching feature outside his shop.

Alex Hales certainly knows a thing or two when it comes to floral displays; from assisting with award-winning exhibitions at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show to making his own bespoke arrangements for weddings and public events, he has created many an eye-catching design.

Well-known to residents of the Welsh coastal town of Aberystwyth, his boutique little flower shop, No. 21, is the workshop for Alex’s imaginative schemes. ‘I love coming up with new combinations,’ he says. ‘There’s something addictive about working with flowers, something endlessly pleasing. With so many forms and colours to play with, there’s always a great pairing just waiting to be discovered.’

Alex nursed a passion for plants from a young age and later studied horticulture at the National Botanic Garden of Wales; opening a florist was something he had always wanted to do. With its stylishly decorated interior and elegant selection of cut flower stems, Alex’s shop is a botanical treasure trove, offering a wealth of ornamental inspiration. However, it is the recent addition at No. 21 that has been catching the attention of passers-by. ‘The success of the flower trunk has been a total surprise,’ Alex tells me. ‘I had no idea it would attract so much interest!’ When he stumbled upon the old trunk for sale, Alex set his plant-matching mind to creating a miniature flower bed within its four wooden walls. ‘I’d been looking for a way to devise a planted scheme at the front of the shop. Cut flower displays are one thing, but I wanted something more permanent, something with vitality.’ The vintage trunk offered Alex a chance to put his practical gardening experience to task.

Alex gets crafty with a smaller incarnation of his planted vintage container.

Very much in keeping with the vintage-chic character of the shop, Alex’s planted trunk sits comfortably among No. 21‘s floral displays. Bringing together a planting scheme that could be applied to one’s own sunny border, the trunk garden offers customers more than a simple bouquet. ‘People seem to love it,’ he says. ‘I had never thought of displaying plants like this before. I think it demonstrates what can be achieved with a small space and encourages people to try new things in their flower beds.’

In order for Alex’s trunk to be plant-ready a few alterations had to be made, especially to the base. ‘We’re in West Wales, so rainwater is not in short supply,’ he says. ‘With any compact planter, drainage is essential.’ Having drilled 1.25cm (½in) holes in the wooden floor and the base of the plastic sheet lining the trunk to protect the wood from saturation and subsequent rotting, Alex filled the bottom section with lightweight clay pellets. Allowing water to drain freely, this kind of aggregate makes for an airy, lighter alternative to bulky material, such as grit or broken crockery. ‘As the trunk would be standing out on the pavement, I wanted to avoid any unnecessary weight,’ he explains. ‘I knew I’d need to move it from time to time.’ For the same reason, Alex avoided using too deep a layer of compost when it came to filling the trunk. He opted for a rich, moisture-retentive soil medium so that the plants would be able to establish without the need for excess earth. ‘You can use any old plastic liner. Without one at all you’ll vastly reduce the life of a wooden plant container,’ he says.

Extending beyond cut flowers for the vase, No.21 is a treasure trove of horticultural inspiration.

Once Alex had prepared the planter, next came the fun stage. ‘There’s a nursery nearby with a great selection of perennials,’ says Alex. ‘I went looking for contrasting plant forms, as opposed to focusing on any particular colour scheme.’ With this in mind, Alex’s plant list includes the large, round heads of Achillea millefolium ‘Summer Fruits Lemon’, with their striking mass of yellow florets. Offsetting these tall, flat-headed blooms are the wilder forms of flower, such as cornflower and chicory. ‘Chicory has always been a favourite of mine,’ Alex says. ‘It’s often forgotten in residential garden planting. When you see it growing in the wild the blue is so captivating.’ The trunk was therefore an opportunity for Alex to profile specific flowers, showcasing them alongside the more typical garden classics such as agapanthus and cosmos. ‘It’s like a Chelsea Flower Show garden in miniature,’ says Alex, ‘although I’ve managed to resist the urge to get at it with the manicure scissors!’

Having trained as a gardener, Alex enjoys any opportunity to experiment with planting combinations. Cosmos bipinnatus is a particular annual favourite, ranging from white to magenta.

HOW TO: BRING A VINTAGE CASE BACK TO LIFE AS A SUCCULENT GARDEN

Here’s a great way to transform an old utility case into a windowsill wonderland. Succulents and cacti are not immediately associated with floral exuberance, but these curious and often other-worldly plants pack some surprisingly beautiful and exotic flowers. Finding the perfect way to show them off can often be a challenge, so try giving an old appliance a makeover by following these simple steps to turn a vintage container into an indoor garden.

Predominantly plants from desert and rock habitats, succulents and cacti dislike damp conditions so it’s important that watering is done sparingly; check the saturation levels each time before topping up.

These plants also require plenty of sunlight in order to produce strong, healthy flowers, so be sure to position them in a bright spot by a sunny window.

1. Choose an unwanted utility case – a briefcase, vanity case or, as in this example, a well-worn typewriter satchel all make for suitable containers. You will also require a coir brick, cactus compost, horticultural grit, a jug of water and a range of flowering cacti and succulent plants.

2. Fill the bottom third of ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• The Block in Bloom
• Growing Wild
• Asking the Experts
• Thinking Outside the Box
• Beyond the Garden
• The Bee’s Needs
• Sources
• Authors
• Copyright