Creating a cut flower garden

Where to plant

While a nicely prepared cutting garden will be lovely to admire, it should also be considered a working garden that needs easy access. For the best blooms, build it in a predominantly sunny spot with well-drained soil that is easy to get to for trimming, weeding, and deadheading as needed.

 

You can think of it as a vegetable garden where you would plant various flowers in rows, keeping like plants together making it easier to pick. Plant all annuals together so you can remove them easily in the fall, and plant all perennials together, so you know what will come back each year.

 

Choose plants that look good together

As you want to combine your cut flowers for bouquets, you will want to choose various plants that look great together in a vase. Think about choosing different sizes and shapes of blooms, with complimentary colours, plus various types of foliage for filler.

 

Height of plant

Look for long-stem perennials, annuals, and bulb plants, as these will make the best cut flowers to place in regular and taller vases. When planting, you will want to put the tallest plants at the back of your garden and shorter plants towards the front to allow for them to get equal sun.  This will also allow for easy access for trimming and weeding.

 

Time of blooms

Research your plants to know when they will bloom – and how many times they will bloom per season. Once you have this information, you can plan to stagger your planting so your cutting garden can provide beautiful blooms from spring to early fall.

 

Annuals can be grown yearly from seed, or you can purchase fresh established plants from the garden centre. Annuals are best planted directly into well-drained soil, enriched with peat moss, manure, or compost, and placed in an area that receives a minimum of 6 hours of direct sunlight daily. Some great examples of annuals for cutting include:

 

• Celosia
• Cosmos
• Snapdragon
• Stock
• Strawflowers
• Sunflowers
• Zinnias

Perennials are an excellent option for cutting flowers. A tremendous benefit to having them return year after year is that you can blend them with annuals for maximum visual impact. Some excellent choices for perennials for cut flowers include:

 

• Bee Balm
• Bellflowers
• Black Eyed Susan
• Blanket Flowers
• Purple Coneflower
• Coreposis
• Garden Phlox
• Lupins
• Penstemon
• Peonies
• Salvia
• Shasta Daisies
• Veronica
• Yarrow

 

The great thing about adding in flowering shrubs to your cutting garden collection is that you plant them once, and then they continue to grow year after year into larger, more mature plants. They provide good structure to your garden for all seasons, and their beautiful blooms provide exceptional cut flowers. Some of our favourites include:

 

• Hydrangea
• Lilacs
• Roses

Bulbs are an excellent choice and will produce some of the most sought-after flowers you typically buy at a florist. However, they can be a little trickier for cut gardens as you will need to know when to plant the bulbs and when they will bloom to get the maximum impact with your other plants.

 

Always research your bulbs for planting times – plant spring-flowering bulbs in the fall and summer-flowering bulbs in the spring.  Start your summer flowering bulbs indoors in pots in March – early May to get a head start on the season and maximize bloom time. Some good bulb examples include:

 

Fall planting bulbs for spring blooms

• Tulips
• Daffodils
• Alliums

 

Spring planting bulbs for summer blooms

• Calla Lilies
• Dahlias – small, medium, and large varieties
• Gladiolas
• Iris
• Lilies

 

• Pick your flowers in the morning using a sharp bypass hand pruner after the dew has dried off the petals; this will keep them looking fresh and help them to last longer.
• Fill a pail of tepid water and immerse the stems immediately. Peonies often harbour ants, while dahlias are likelier to be home to earwigs. To easily remove bugs, place your cut flowers in a pail of water in a shaded outdoor location for a few hours. Soaking them will dislodge any insects to avoid bringing them inside.
• Once you bring your flowers inside, you can prep your flowers for display in your vase. Recut the stems at an angle under running water and remove all the lower leaves below the waterline.
• Mixing a floral preservative into room-temperature water will save you from changing the water daily.
• Keep an eye on the water level and top up as necessary.

Visit Sheridan  Nurseries this season for an excellent selection of annual, perennial, and bulb planting options to create a unique custom-cutting garden to grow, and continue to add to, for years to come.