Anna's Flower Farm

20/06/2025

My Nanny used to say better born lucky than rich and it’s so far worked for me.

Got a 2nd trip to .end with a tour from .a.hodges, almost a year to the date of my 1st.

My favourite gardens and spaces have stories and this one has it in spades (sorry) but more than the story of Lett and Morris, it’s the story of how the gardens are being renovated by the and . It’s a garden in transition.

I found it fascinating to see the sensitive and considered progress had been made over the year, and learn of the next plans.

It seems like an exciting point in the development. Loved seeing piles of recently lifted terrace rubble, garden tables, pallet staging with wire lined cold frames for nursery’s. The pond about to be reinstated, green manures in cleared beds and ‘just missed them’ iris beds. Lists of jobs, plans and vision boards give great insight.

After all gardens are about those that work in them, so much that can’t be told by just wondering about.

Then, by chance meeting of our group lead at Chelsea, we got to visit Frank Minns’ garden who organises which was picture perfect and such a delight. Might have bought some Irises and other Morris propagated treasures.

Lucky old me.

20/06/2025

Snippets from the tunnel (and seeds to dry). All ripped out now and tomatoes in.

13/06/2025

Some images from my favourite Grow Your Own Cut Flowers Class. I love the June session, flowers to cut, processes and lots to see and do.

1. Leaving with flowers
2. Dahlia beds with companion plants
3. Aquilegia
4. Frosted dahlias (they’ve since grown strongly away)
5. Harvesting
6. Cutting and conditioning
7. W**d tea ferment
8. Protecting newly potted plants with fleece. Not from frost, but from sun scorching.
9. Ready & waiting. 1st time?!
10. Pudding

12/06/2025

These huge vases were made up on the morning of an event, then dismantled into buckets and rearranged in a few minutes since I only had 10 of them in the venue!

Two things about these - I had buckets of flowers from the clients family gardens which was such a joy. It gave the arrangements such purpose and meaning, rooted in the season and location. All my arranging work now has this link between occasion, place and season often either with flowers grown by clients and / or arranged by them.

I wrote up these floral recipes in (bio) with which ingredients I used, how to grow, condition and arrange to use this same palette another May.

And shout out for the tallest foxgloves ever from

08/06/2025

Our work at the garden is almost finished at . I gave a talk on the project & its progress to a very engaged audience. Despite its diminutive size, we’ve packed a lot in.

With the wildlife tower / sculpture in the centre, already a buzzing, pond and hedgehog house. Look up and the bat boxes and swift house already have residents moved in.

And pergola stage one complete. We’ve got some great tools for the gardeners from .hq which was like christmas! The whole garden so designed as a very low maintenance but high biodiversity space, so far doing just that.

08/06/2025

May is always busy, so much to do. One of the best parts is visitors coming back to the gardens. I ran a session on arranging church flowers for Little Walden where they have a garden to cut from. Bringing vessels to arrange into, some of them were over 60 years old and reusing chicken wire and frogs. True sustainable church flowers. Also, a brides mum, mother in law to be and aunty who were all growing flowers for the brides wedding which was so beautiful in itself, then came for an evening to practise arranging and table scapes. Lucky bride to have them around her. And finally, 30 odd flower farmers from all over East Anglia. It was fun to share the experiments I’ve been exploring in leaving weeds, chopping and dropping rather than clearing, green manures and composting. It’s exposing to have so many experienced growers come and have a good look at your weeds and mistakes but then what can you learn from a perfect space?

08/06/2025

April Growing

1. Annual weeding of the long border. Only took one day this year! Taken several, but it looks after itself now. I never water or feed or mulch (bar chopping & dropping plants as they go over)

2. Taking chrysanthemum cuttings in Grow Your Own Cut Flowers class

3. Cuttings prepared

4. Plastic boxes for tender plants. No need for a greenhouse in a small garden. These work!

5. Charging charcoal to hold nutrients & water in the compost heap.

6. Flowering shrubs for when your tulips / ranunculus / narcissus all go over too quickly in a hot dry spring (whole Substack on this topic with a plant list)

7. Last of ranunculus

8. Easter forget-me-nots

05/05/2025

Thank you Sheepythings for sharing your photos from the last workshop. Next one on May 17th.

25/04/2025

Muntjac got through the tiniest gap under a chair, into the tunnel, and ate all the ranunculus. Ditto tulips. Narcissus basically over already. But blimey the blossom delivered this year! Each year, something different thrives and this spring, due to lack of wind and rain, and not so hot to dry all the flowers, the cherries et al hung on to their flowers for weeks! The flowering quince (or chaenomeles) is still flowering after weeks!

Forsythia, cherry blossoms x 4 across the gardens & amelanchier. Just about done now as the next bunch of shrubs and trees come into flower.

25/03/2025

A productive few days -

1. Currently obsessed with blossoms - lack of wind and rain this March means they are last ages on branches. Chanomeles, forsythia, a red leafed cherry (inherited and haven’t looked it up) and still winter honeysuckle, over 3 months strong.

2. Post Art & Craft of growing cut flowers class on Saturday morning. Can report trial went really well and will be running this class every month.

3. Freshly covered seed and plants to protect from muntjac as I ‘secure’ the gardens.

4. Repairing the ‘charmingly’ falling apart door to studio.

5. A post viral tired me mid door repair

6. I installed that door stop. Well proud of myself! However flattening the cephalaria with a swinging door all winter doesn’t appear to deter its growth.

7. My fav hellebore. Which are all doing great guns this year too!

20/03/2025

Alas I have been taken down by the plague (ok a virus) and too ill to enjoy the gorgeous weather and get outside this week. I’m still not cutting back the perennial growth (read ) but will be well enough this Saturday for the first session in my monthly classes here on growing cut flowers. Still time to book a place!

03/03/2025