Cut Flower Gardening
Many of us enjoy a beautiful bouquet of flowers to brighten up our indoor spaces or give to a loved one on special occasions.
Some flowers are better suited for cut arrangements than others, and with a little planning ahead you can have flowers for beautiful bouquets all year long!
The first step to establishing your cut flower garden is picking a location!
The site should be in full sun (6-8 hours per day) and have soil that is well-drained. If your soil is too clayey or too sandy it should be amended with organic matter or replaced altogether with quality garden soil. Give consideration to how you are going to water. Drip irrigation will be easier in long straight beds. The width of your bed should be whatever you can reach from both sides. Four feet wide beds are common. Once your garden beds are established, continue to build a healthy soil ecosystem by adding 1-2 inches of organic matter (e.g. compost, manure) every spring.
A few growing tips:
The best flowers for the cutting garden are ones with long stems.
Consider plants with varying shapes for more interesting floral arrangements. A mixture of spikes (delphinium, snapdragons) and sparklers (didiscus, orlaya, grasses) will add magic and movement to your arrangement.
Plant annuals close together to maximize space and reduce weed pressure. Most annuals can be planted at 9x9 inch spacing, which equates to 5 rows per 4 foot wide bed.
Remember to put plants that grow taller on the north side of the bed (e.g. dahlias) so as not to shade the lower growing ones!
Set up a staking system for plants early in the growing season before they need them. This will keep your stems straight and your beds tidy.
Pinch the central leading stem of certain plants (cosmos, snapdragons, zinnias) to stimulate side shoot growth for increased flower production. This can be done when the plant is about 8-12” tall by snipping out the top 3-4 inches, just above a set of leaves.
Plan for a succession of blooms starting with early season daffodils, tulips, and ranunculus; followed by late spring blooms like lilacs, snapdragons, poppies, and stock; finally moving into summer season blooms like zinnias and dahlias.
Include foliage plants in your landscaping and seed wish list to act as fillers in the bouquets. During the summer months, harvest for dried flower bouquets that will last into the winter.
Plant suggestions for the cut flower garden:
Annuals: basil (for greens), calendula, celosia, cosmos, didiscus, gomphrena, heliotrope, marigolds, nigella, orlaya, snapdragons, sunflowers, statice, stock, straw flowers, sweet peas, zinnias
Perennials: astrantia, crocosmia, delphinium, echinacea, eryngium, gaillardia, lavender, liatris, lupines, martagon lily, mint (foliage), monarda, oregano, peonies, poppies, rudbeckia, salvia
Bulbs: anemones, daffodils, dahlias, iris, gladiolus, ranunculus, tulips
Grasses: Bunny Tails, Feather Reed, Muhly, Pennisetum, Tufted Hair
Shrubs for flowers: hydrangeas, lilacs, roses, snowball viburnum
Shrubs for foliage: boxwood, camellia, eucalyptus, kiwi vine, leucothoe, ninebark, pieris, privet, salal, raspberry greens, viburnum
Shrubs with berries for winter interest: beautyberry, cotoneaster, firethorn, holly, skimmia
Shrubs with attractive bare branches in winter for filler: red twig dogwood, blueberry, contorted hazelnut, curly willow
Harvest these plants in summer for dried winter bouquets: allium seed pods, asters, celosia, eucalyptus, grasses (e.g. bunny tails),
marigolds (large pom/African), peonys, statice and straw flowers