The Cutting Garden

10/25/2024

Penhill Watermelon!! I’d take her over Cafe au Lait any day!! Our glorious mild fall has been heaven for extending the bloom period for our dahlias. I didn’t go to the production gardens for a couple of days and boom!, Penhill went to town! Blooms are a little irregular and stems a bit wonky, but glorious faces to greet me here in late October!




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10/15/2024

Nothing better than best childhood pals going home with blooms! Three cheers for our high school reunion chief motivator! It was a great weekend!!




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10/10/2024

And last, but certainly not least. A couple of restorative days at our favorite home, a Pig Hotel, this one near Bath in the Mendlip Hills. Always a beautiful country house, the champion local, sustainable and delicious food. Their kitchen gardens are beyond compare, each one a thing of beauty and bounty. The attention to soil health, succession planting and kitchen variety is something we should all aspire to … Oh and the house is gorgeous too!

10/10/2024

Dyrham Park not far from Bath. A stately golden hued 17th century house in South Gloucestershire. Beautifully situated house, medieval chapel and extensive gardens. Especially loved the espalier and stepped waterfall into the pond.

10/08/2024

Lytes Cary Manor in Somerset. A medieval house with a lovely assortment of garden rooms to explore. Wonderful late season color throughout, we especially loved the purples, yellows and whites palette in the long border. Front of the house featured 12 topiary yews, representing the Apostles. Fuschias, dahlias, asters, coreopsis all going strong!

10/07/2024

Spent a few days in a tiny cottage near the beach in rugged western Cornwall, the land of Poldark! A wonderful contrast to the grand historic country houses that we have been exploring. West coast Cornwall is a naturally pristine place where you feel very small in relation to the great outdoors. Showing big winds, tides, weather, and terrain, it doesn’t suffer wimps or those without proper gear …. BUT it is astonishingly beautiful and preserved. The narrowest of lanes which barely fit a car one way (but all are two way), ancient cottages dot the coastline. All made of local stone with local slate roofs that have withstood many centuries. Lots of mystical history which remains strong in the area today.

10/06/2024

Nothing to do with gardens, but have always been fascinated by the “downstairs” of great houses. The incredible kitchen rooms of Lanhydrock were the best ever. The kitchen was built in the 1880’s at the height of Victorian ingenuity and this house spared nothing! (See the multiple oven spits in the last pic) Oohhh would have loved to bring some bits of crockery home!

10/06/2024

Lanhydrock! A Jacobean house in Cornwall that suffered a devastating fire in 1880’s and was refurbished in the late Victorian style. Gardens boasted incredible late season color and interest in herbaceous borders and formal parterre.

Second post to follow on some of the interiors of this special country house, especially the decked out late Victorian kitchen rooms!

10/04/2024

Cotehele! An incredible Tudor house perched high above the River Tamar filled with artifacts and “updates” from over 700 years. Walled gardens, orchards and a wonderfully preserved mill and maritime center down on the River. The hugely tidal river was a very important both for safe transportation and trade of cut flowers and produce.

10/03/2024

The moors of Dartmoor! Lucky to have sunny days to wander this beautiful landscape filled with heather, ferns, gorse, cows, sheep and so many fascinating ancient weathered stones. The views were epic! A super rugged and slightly eerie terrain, it made me think of all those who wandered here for so many generations before (without our technical attire).

10/01/2024

Our first stop in Devon, destination Forde Abbey, which has 900 years of history, first as a Cistercian abbey and then (and now) a private home. The gardens are expansive and spectacular. Mixed borders galore, kitchen gardens and glass houses. We are constantly reminded of the extensive maintenance for the proper upkeep of succession borders, with 4 staff members working one bed. Grateful, as garden tourists, to see that this complex art remains strong here in the motherland of horticulture!!




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09/25/2024

Luckiest mama in the world! Happy National Daughters Day!!

09/07/2024

Best day!! Gal pals from childhood semi regular day out! Always eagerly anticipated, it must include excellent food, a walk in a beautiful place and if we are lucky, something creative or cultural. We checked all the boxes yesterday finishing with flower arranging class in our workroom. The students brought serious game and each created something completely fabulous and different. We laughed and fixed all the world’s problems. Still smiling.




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08/20/2024

They are here!!!! The dahlia gardens are cranking and we have an abundance of incredible colors and shapes. Please reach out to order a harvest bucket or a bespoke arrangement. Completely chemical free and picked the day you receive them. Can you say that about

store blooms? Support local growers, we care about our soil health and don’t want to send toxic pesticides into your home!




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08/12/2024

We had the honor to provide arrangements for a very special birthday celebration and we let the garden do the talking! It’s a joy to harvest and arrange at this time of the year, with so much beautiful stock to work with. And the spectacular home and property provided the best backdrop for our blooms. Dahlias took the starring role, with hydrangea and lisianthus showing as well. All grown completely chemical free in New Canaan. Local flowers for the win!




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07/23/2024

First real bunch baby! This one for me! Let the season begin, lots more to come. Ahhh, dahlias!!




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07/20/2024

11/29/2023

We LOVE this front door, and our planters are pretty swell too! We love doing winter installs, freshest greens, branches and berries and immediate gratification!




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11/19/2023

This gorgeous late fall weekend got us motivated to do our winter planters, here at world headquarters! Our greens are abundant, fresh picked and laden with berries! Let us know if we can bring some seasonal happiness to your home!




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