This is a recipe I wrote for my second book ‘Sweetpeas for Summer’. Back then, sustainably sourced flowers for Valentine’s day were hard to come by; sterile, unscented roses shipped in from Colombia or some such place were the norm. How things have changed and it’s now joyfully easy to get a bouquet of British flowers for your loved one, should you so wish. Thing is though, I value permanence above all things, which is why I’m quite into this idea for a Valentine’s gift with a difference…it will last for as long as you look after it, and if you get bored of it, you can just plant it out in the garden and let it romp up a trellis, reminding you how much your love has grown.

You will need:

A small pot of small-leaved ivy

A wire coat-hanger (or if you want a larger affair you can just use thick wire

Some pliers

A pot (20cm diameter is the one to go for if you’re using an old coat hanger)

Peat-free multi-purpose compost and fertiliser granules

Method

First, make your frame. To do this, use your pliers to un-bend the hook bit of the coat-hanger and untwist its ‘neck’. Then fashion this piece of wire into a heart-shape with a two ‘stalks’ about 7-10cm long at the bottom.

Fill your pot with compost and plant your ivy plant slightly forward of centre, gently spreading out and untangling the stems as you go, which will make it easier to cover the frame.

plunge your frame into the centre of the pot, take half of the ivy tendrils and start twisting them around the bottom of the frame. if they don’t stick, then tie them in with a bit of string. Then do the same on the other side. As the plant grows, just keep twisting the ivy around the frame until it is completely covered. You can prune out anything you don’t need. Keep the pot watered and every year, remove the top few centimetres of compost, replacing it with new, to keep the plant happy and healthy.

x Laetitia