If you enjoy creating beautiful bouquets and arranging blooms in vases, or growing blooms year-round, a cut flower garden would make an excellent addition to your garden.
Start by sketching your cut-flower garden on paper, selecting varieties and heights that will flourish together, before planting a mixture of cutting perennials and annuals in blocks.
Location
When planting a cut flower garden, it is essential that you select an ideal location that provides sufficient sunlight and irrigation. A cutting garden may be placed within an existing perennial bed or border or even its own separate raised bed for cutting flowers.
Flowers need at least six hours of sun each day in order to thrive, and your garden space must be well-drained and rich with organic matter such as compost or leaf mold for proper root development. To increase success, add compost or leaf mold as part of the soil preparation before you plant.
If you have limited space, consider pairing your cut flower garden and vegetable garden together for maximum benefits. This approach, known as companion planting, offers many advantages for both.
Mix your cut flowers with other varieties for an eye-catching display during summer months, for example combining roses, dahlias, sunflowers and zinnias into an eye-catching arrangement.
Soil
If you want to bring nature into your home, creating a cut flower garden is the perfect way. Growing flowers locally is more cost-effective and gives you a closer connection with seasonality than ordering imported blooms from overseas.
Before planting a cut flower garden, ensure the site and soil are prepared appropriately by loosening up and adding slow-release flower fertilizer.
Select plants that will provide an ongoing source of cut flowers throughout the year – these could include perennials, annuals, or spring bulbs.
Lay out your flowers according to their anticipated bloom times, interspersing different varieties within each bed so as to prevent dead patches and ensure continuous color throughout summer. As soon as any of your blooms start wilting, remove and replant with new varieties for best results.
Planting
At the forefront of every successful cut flower garden lies selecting an ideal site. Sunlight and an abundance of moist yet well-draining soil are essential conditions for successful plant growth.
Next, decide how you will utilize your cut flower garden. Some cut flowers are easy to plant and require minimal care while others require regular weeding, pruning, or deadheading.
Cutting beds can be easily integrated into an existing vegetable or herb garden, or they could become their own separate patch in your backyard. In either case, find an area in full sunlight where long linear beds allow easy access without walking on any plants.
Pick flowers that require minimal care to ensure an abundance of blooms throughout the season. Consider selecting fragrant varieties to enhance cut bouquets, while those that dry well will extend vase life throughout winter months.
Care
Growing cut flower gardens is an effective and cost-efficient way to bring bouquets of blooms directly into the home, as it supports bees and other pollinators while protecting bee populations.
To successfully maintain your cutting garden, it is essential that you carefully consider its environment and usage – including how much sunlight is necessary and which flowers to plant.
Some flowers thrive in warm environments while not so well in colder ones. Also, some blooms thrive under direct sunlight while others can survive shade as well as wind and rain without harm.
No matter the climate or environment, a cut flower garden must be well-drained and receive at least 6 hours of sunlight each day in order for all your plants to flourish and produce blooms.