A session focused on planning your cutting garden and understanding what needs to happen in June.

We’ll begin the day by sowing later-flowering annual seeds such as helianthus and zinnia, all in a distinctive HP colour palette, ready for you to take home. We will then look ahead to the following season by sowing biennials such as digitalis, hesperis and lunaria. Sowing these in June will provide you with a strong backbone of plants, invaluable in bridging the hungry gap between late spring and early summer.

Together, we will explore how to care for your late annuals and biennials — from soil type and watering to potting on, planting out and considering aspect.

The afternoon takes us further into our growing gardens and fields, where we will practically apply techniques to prune and manage current annuals for greater stem length and an extended flowering season.

We will spend time in Gillie’s cutting garden, observing what it is producing now and how it has evolved since early spring and Day One of our course.

Our florists will discuss what they are currently picking, how and why, and how carefully selected grown and foraged stems enable them to create the distinctive Hortus palette in their arrangements. As this is a growing course, the session focuses on the art of the curated pick rather than a demonstration of floral arranging.

Lunch will be provided, along with a selection of late annual plants and seeds in the distinctive Hortus Poeticus colour palette for you to take home, offering instant planting satisfaction, together with comprehensive course materials.

Over tea and cake, we will return to the lovely Hortus Barn for a discussion on planning a full cut flower garden year. Referring to the course materials provided, we’ll explore sowing times and variety information, concluding with a focus on bulbs for early spring flowers — including an inspiring exploration of narcissus varieties and divisions to set your imagination alight.