GIANT HERB ROBERT, CUP & SAUCER VINE
Babies breath (Gypsophila pacifica)
Cup & saucer vine (Cobea scandens)
Giant herb Robert (Geranium maderense)
Hollyhock - dried leaf (Alcea rosea)
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Shrubby hollyhock (Alcalthaea suffrutescens ‘Parkallee’)
Wild marjoram (Origanum vulgare)
Antique pickle jar
AUGUST
Sometimes you start with a leaf. This arrangement in a simple glass pickle jar has a few good ones. The giant herb Robert, native to Madeira, has ferny-shaped leaves turning from lime to raspberry red at the edges. I’ve generally been using a lot of geranium foliage this year of many different varieties because they turn great colours when they are stressed. Harsh but true! The hollyhock leaves I had ‘pruned’ off a two metre tall stem that kept getting in the way as I brushed past them. I must have left them out in the sun because they have dried to perfection - every detail preserved, the colour of tea-stained parchment. And of course the green and bronze two-tone vine (Cobea scandens) which is preparing to flower and we’ll be using profusely throughout our autumn classes - a lovely one for tumbles and tendrils. I wanted to highlight the exquisite spires of x Alcalthaea suffrutescens 'Parkallee', (a hybrid cross bred from a hollyhock and a marshmallow), one of our absolute favourites in August, layered with peppery post-flower dots of baby’s breath and smoky mauve oregano, one of my go-to aromatics that, massed, happens to be a superb filler, without being heavy. I should say that I also had a smattering of Japanese anemones in there (Anemone hupehensis ‘Sepember Charm’) which I later removed - beautiful as they are, they didn’t add anything and I’m trying to take at least one thing out to really ensure that every material is fulfilling a purpose within the design.
