
There is going to be a country wedding on Home Farm. In our gardens and on Home Farm we are growing these flamboyant beauties to grace the tables. Planning started as far back as December. The bride, the darling of the farm, chose Cafe au Lait, to be the centrepiece. A bit of a chameleon she blooms a delicate pink. Then petals start to fade to white tinged with just a touch of coffee brown.

Shaggy white cactus and pompoms in shades of bronze. Colours chosen to compliment the bride’s Cafe au Lait dahlias.


I cut my flowers early in the morning when they are still filled with moisture. Dahlias are demanding darlings. They need to be put into water immediately. I use a deep bucket to support the tall stems of the heavier flowers.
I cut the sweet peas daily. Their heavy fragrance fills the garden and butterflies are in their glory. Sweet peas will not share a bouquet with any other flower. The presence of sweet peas wilt other blossoms. I take a basket filled with several small containers of water out to the garden. Each exquisite colour of sweet peas goes into these separate containers. The stems of sweet peas are a bit fragile and this segregation of colours makes flower arrangements easier.

I love our gardens. I love the doing of them. Digging the soil. Planting. watering, weeding. And if at the end of all this we have vegetables. Or flowers. That is an added bonus. It is the doing that is important. This season we had the thrill of growing new flowers for the wedding. Anxiously awaiting the blooming, for dahlias sometimes are not as pictured on the package. In a couple of weeks we will harvest the flowers. Their ephemeral beauty will continue next year to be known as “our wedding dahlias”.