Start a cutting garden for a summer filled with hand-designed bouquets and wreaths designed by you! When choosing flowers to plant in your cutting garden, look for those that have long vase lives while being easy for beginners to grow.
Ideal flower gardens should be located in sunny spots with good drainage and fertile soil, preferably beds large enough for you to reach each bloom without trampling any nearby plants.
Location
Growing cut flowers doesn’t need to involve sprawling flowerbeds bursting with blooms; all it takes is some dedication and planning for an abundance of homegrown blooms to fill your vases all season long!
Starting a cutting flower garden doesn’t need to be complicated: perennials and annuals that make good cut flowers can easily be integrated into existing gardens and landscapes. Just make sure your chosen spot receives at least 6-8 hours of direct sun each day; alternatively, consider purchasing raised garden beds which make weeding and watering simpler!
Prior to planting, it’s wise to conduct a soil test. This allows you to understand the overall health of your soil and what amendments (if any) might be necessary – your local county extension office can assist with this process. Healthy, rich, well-draining and weed free soil is ideal for successful gardening!
Soil
Your soil selection for your cut flower garden is absolutely crucial to its success. Find an area with full sunlight and well-draining, rich soil that won’t compete for water and nutrients with competing weeds or grasses.
Before planting, it is beneficial to draft out a planting plan on paper using bloom time and height as guidelines. This will enable you to organize your beds effectively so each type of flower receives sufficient space. It also makes sense to group flowers according to their cultural needs to prevent overwatering or under-watering of nearby plants.
If you are creating a dedicated cutting garden, opt for long linear beds – approximately one metre wide – so that you can access and work in each bed easily without walking over or trampling on your flowers. This is particularly important if you plan on cultivating tall annuals like sunflowers or zinnias that need supporting vines, sweet peas, climbing nasturtiums etc. which require netting support or trellises.
Planting
Choose perennial flowers that come back year after year or annuals with diverse colors, heights and forms for optimal blooming results. Consider adding filler plants for balance as focal flowers as well as foliage to give bouquets texture, height and wispiness.
Define your hardiness zone, then incorporate organic matter to improve drainage and water retention in your garden soil. A well-laid garden layout is essential for easy maintenance and harvesting: arrange flowers in wide rows or small plots so you can snip stems without uprooting nearby plants, then arrange plants by height and bloom sequence so taller flowers are in the rear and shorter bloomers at the front of your space.
Some cut flower varieties, like certain zinnia and sunflower varieties, may need support as they grow. If this is necessary, provide it as you mark out and dig your beds.
Harvesting
There’s something enchanting about strolling into your garden with scissors and water in hand to harvest flowers that you have grown yourself. A bouquet can add life and brightness to a room while simultaneously brightening someone else’s day.
An ideal location for a cutting garden is somewhere that receives plenty of sun and allows easy access to plants, weeds and picking. Raised beds may also work better if your soil conditions require it.
Add plants that bloom throughout summer, like perennials like hellebores and liatris. Also add hardy annuals or biennials such as sweet william and sweet rocket.
For easier maintenance, arrange your planting so that like plants are clustered together. This will make finding what you’re searching for easier later. Consider segregating perennials from annuals as well as tall plants such as dahlias and sunflowers from those which need netting or trellis (like nasturtiums or sweet peas). Keep in mind that some plants need pruning in order to produce their full potential blooms while deadheading extends their lives.