Cut flower gardens make an eye-catching feature in any landscape, often designed in long rows or grids for easy harvesting and maintenance.
To maximize yield, plant perennial and annual flowers with similar bloom cycles and heights – this will provide a steady supply of cut blooms throughout the growing season.
Soil
Care for your soil is of vital importance when creating a cut flower garden, from monitoring pH levels and amending it with compost or manure for drainage and nutrition purposes to controlling pests and diseases.
Make sure that the site of your flowers receives full sunlight for optimal growth. Some perennials and annuals may tolerate some shade, but most cutting flower varieties need direct sunlight in order to thrive.
Use mulch to decrease weeds, water loss and help regulate soil temperatures while also keeping evaporation to a minimum and allow your flowers to soak deep into the soil and avoid fungal disease risk. Be sure to water in the morning, rather than afternoon to prevent evaporation loss while providing maximum soakage depth into the ground, minimizing risks such as fungal diseases.
Plan an array of perennials and annuals with various colors, heights, textures, heights, heights and flowering shrubs such as hydrangeas or lilacs to complete the mix.
Water
Starting a cut flower garden can be both rewarding and miraculous. Watching tiny seeds sprout into giant plants with abundant blooms seems like some miraculous alchemical transformation!
Cut flower gardens require direct sunlight. Watering early morning reduces evaporation and allows water to soak deep into the soil – where your flowers need it most!
Make garden management simpler by planting blocks of the same flower type together, keeping them organized by height, growing conditions and flowering time. For instance, tall annuals like zinnias can be planted together while sweet peas or climbing nasturtiums should be planted elsewhere in your garden. Some plants may require support such as netting or trellises as they grow; thus it’s wise to plan ahead.
Sunlight
Your cut flower garden requires plenty of sunlight in order to thrive, so select both annual and perennial varieties to provide blooms throughout the season. Annuals such as cosmos, larkspur and sweet peas make great fillers for bouquets while perennial varieties like yarrow and garden phlox provide beautiful additions that complete arrangements beautifully.
Water your plants early in the morning to minimize evaporation and allow their root systems to soak in deeply with moisture, encouraging healthy plant growth while maintaining stable temperatures in the soil. This will allow your soil to maintain an ideal environment.
Add liquid organic flower fertilizers or compost to the soil at planting time and every two or three weeks during the growing season for maximum flowering and improved plant health. Compost your kitchen scraps and yard waste for an organic source of nutrients!
Pruning
Before beginning your garden journey, draw out a sketch on paper of all of your desired flower varieties and bloom times – this will allow you to keep track of when to cut each variety and prevent gaps from developing in your flowers.
Focus on creating an appealing combination of perennials and annual flowers, including fillers such as baby’s breath and coral bells, for your garden beds. When selecting bouquet flowers, go for those that smell great as well as tall showy plants like sunflowers or dahlias for bouquets.
Plant your flowers in rows or grids for easy harvesting and access. Be sure to add supports for vining plants like climbing nasturtiums and sweet peas as well as tall annuals like some varieties of zinnia that require support netting to stay upright.
Raised Beds
Assembling your growing space is perhaps one of the most critical steps when starting a cut flower garden. Since most flowers destined for cutting require plenty of room to thrive, consider grouping your plants by height – with tallest in the back and shorter nearer the front; or for vining plants like sunflowers or climbing nasturtiums which need support such as netting or trellises in order to stay upright and stay put.
As part of a mix of annual and perennial flowers, choose varieties with different flower textures and heights to add depth and interest. Also add long-stemmed bloomers such as hydrangeas or dahlias that bloom for longer such as these can add an extra special touch to arrangements.