Picking and arranging with Ammi majus

Picking and Arranging with Ammi Majus

By June your Ammi majus should be at its full height. If it has been sown in either autumn or February, it may well be over seven feet.

If you hold off sowing and sow in March or April, your flowers will be roughly half the height, so if you want productive plants remember to sow at the right time of year.

How to Pick Ammi Majus

I prefer to pick large stems of Ammi majus, often with multiple flower heads so that when they are arranged in a vase you can appreciate the scale of them.

Once you've picked your stems, put them straight into a bucket of water in the shade and when you are ready sear the stems briefly in boiling water.

After this, they should stay fresh for around a week but may even last up to 10 days.

As the Ammi is so tall, you only need to cut your stems above the jute netting, so it won't get in the way.

A Large Arrangement of Ammi Majus

I'm using a large glass urn to display the glory of the Ammi majus, and you really do need a large container to show it at its best.

To hold the stems in place below the surface of the water I'm creating a web out of black bamboo stems, but you could also use chicken wire. Once you've created your structure, arrange your ammi stems in the urn and as they're all the same flower then you don't have to be overly precious about it. But do work with the natural structure of the individual stems.

Foxgloves and cow parsley are also good alternative flowers for this type of arrangement, although cow parsley drops its flowers much more quickly than ammi.