Choosing What to Grow in Your Cutting Garden

This time of year most gardeners are in the process of seed starting. Here at the farm, we are sowing seeds using the recommended timing from the seed packet or from the handy chart that Johnnys’ Seeds provides on their web page. The anticipation is real and we marvel at what lies ahead from a tiny seed to a towering floral.

This bouquet includes: peonies, shasta daisies, lisianthus, astilbe, ninebark, asparagus ferns, baptisia and clemetis buds

Grow a variety of florals with different bloom times.

Each season, we put over 10,000 plants in the ground between our tunnels and our field. That does not include any of the perennials and woody shrubs that we already have and use as cuttings for our bouquets. We are careful to grow a variety of things that we can use throughout the season for our arrangements and events. Our plantings are staggered for different bloom times. Spreadsheets are our friend in gathering all the information we need for this. But no worries, you do not have to do that much to put together a delightful colorful cutting garden.

Bouquets contain a collection of florals.

First, consider the bouquet elements. There are the focal flowers and often some smaller secondary flowers. We include greens because they enhance the colors and frame the flowers so they can be noticed. After those stems are arranged, a few textural elements really make your arrangement pop and provide some depth and interest. Plan on growing a few of each of these elements and you will have stems to arrange that will be uniquely yours. More importantly, flowers bring joy to your living space and anyone can grow them.

Start with some flowers that are easy to grow.

For flowers, there are far too many to explain so consider this a starter list. Zinnias are the easiest! They can be direct seeded into the ground and come in a wide range of colors and shapes. Some of our favorites that we grow are Benary’s Giant Dahlia, Oklahoma’s, Cactus series as well as the new Queen series. They are colorful and stunning. We call this type of flower “cut and come again” because the more you cut them, the more they grow. Sunflowers are great too. Many of these are considered “cut and done” because you can only get one cut from the single stem series. There are also branching types that bloom over the course of the summer so you only have to plant these once. These too can be direct seeded. Early in the season, consider the fragrant varieties of Sweet peas which can be planted before most things and offer a wide variety of colors. Other flowers that you may already have in your garden are peonies, lilacs, lilies and hydrangeas. If not, think about adding these to your perennial garden and you will have blooms that brighten your yard and stems that you can cut for a season of use.

All zinnias!

There are many textural elements that will enhance and inspire any arrangement.

Some of our favorite textural elements that you can grow or purchase at you local garden center are snapdragons (a fav), statice, nigella, gomphrena, celosia, cosmos, cerinthe, mints, Italian petunias and scented geraniums. Pick the ones that make you smile. A side note about design, plant your selections in clusters of 3 and 5 or more. This simple rule of thumb will help make the garden more appealing to the eye and in the process you get more stems to cut as well. 

In regards to greens for your vase, you may be able to forage some or add them to your garden landscape. We use the culinary herbs such as Greek oregano, Sage and French tarragon. They make a great addition to a mixed bouquet! Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ is a workhorse since you can use the stems in all stages, all summer, for arrangements. Apple mint, mountain mint and chocolate mint are fabulous and grow back each year, sometimes too well. For shrubs, the greens of baptisia and snowberry have particularly lovely green shades that work well in the vase.

So create some space this spring for a few flowers. Pick a sunny area and prep the ground so you can plant some seeds. Maybe even use a section of your vegetable garden. They actually provide a habitat for beneficial insects. Add a few essential perennials to your landscape.  Be sure to check out your local cooperative extension service for information as well as some of the bigger seed companies such as Johnny’s Seeds which have detailed growing libraries on their websites. It is proven that flowers are good for your soul so why not start growing some now!

And for those of you not quite ready to dig in, we do offer a weekly bouquet subscription with pick up at the farm. See below for more details! We offer the subscription by the month in July, August and September. Each week, we select what looks best at the farm and put together all the bouquet elements of flowers, greens and textures, from our farm to your vase.