Garden Design IdeasGarden Ideas, Photos and Tips for Gardening at Home
photograph by : Jesse Oman / Shutterstock .
If you love to fill your home base with vases of new thin flowers but feel gardener ’s remorse whenever you sever off the heads of your beautiful bedding plant , it ’s time to plant a garden devoted solely to flowers for cutting .
“ As gardener , we ’ve been condition to resist the urge to dress from our blooming plants , and instead leave them to put on a show outdoors . But once you experience the pleasure of harvesting armloads of bloom flop outside your door , your approach to growing them will promptly change , ” says professional flower farmer Erin Benzakein , in her Quran , Floret Farm ’s Cut Flower Garden .
Cut blossom garden extend environmental benefit as well . By growing your own bouquets and skipping those trips to the florist , you are reducing the carbon footprint for the production and transport of glasshouse - grown blooms .
Featured in : Garden Design ’s Top 9 Garden Trends for 2023(“Growing Your Own fragrancy " )
WHAT IS A CUT FLOWER GARDEN?
call back of a cutting garden as a flush farm designed for production and harvest , much like a vegetable garden . “ Unlike a miscellaneous moulding or showy flower bed that functions to provide a pretty and perfect display , a cutting garden ’s primary job is to acquire a bounty of cut blooms all time of year long , ” says Benzakein .
WHERE CAN YOU PLANT A CUT FLOWER GARDEN?
Most florescence plants love sun , so turn up your cut garden in a spot that receives at least six hours per Clarence Day of full sun . Another all important is to choose a place sheltered from gusty wind that can topple over your peak - laden plant life and increase moisture deprivation . If you have a fly-by-night garden or you are short on space , many prime worthy for cutting can be arise in container on a sunny deck or balcony .
Also , research the specific needs of your best-loved cut flowers . For exemplar , some flowers prefer dry ground over damp and acidulent soil versus alkaline , which will work what you plant and where .
HOW DO YOU SET UP A CUT FLOWER GARDEN?
“ A cutting garden should be specify up with production and efficiency in mind — this means narrow , orthogonal space that are easy to tend and reap , ” says Benzakein . She recommends pick out a layer breadth that give up you to reach the center when standing on either of the long sides and to institute pathways between bed for easier entree . Growing your flowers inraised garden bedswill also facilitate planting and harvest .
Another point : Separate perennials , which return every year , from yearbook that must be withdraw in the gloaming and replanted in spring .
HOW BIG SHOULD A CUTTING GARDEN BE?
pic by : goodmoments / Shutterstock .
When grow blossom for cutting , the goal is to grow as many plant as you’re able to in the space available . But you do n’t need a Brobdingnagian garden plot to draw a big harvest of flush . By growing plants with longsighted stems and spacing them closely together , even a small cutting garden can be astonishingly productive . If garden space is really miserly , vining plants that can be grown vertically on a trellis , such as sweet pea , are outstanding space savers .
CAN I GROW CUT FLOWERS IN A VEGETABLE GARDEN?
Absolutely ! There are many welfare to develop blossom and vegetables in concordance , as long as the plant have the same growing requirements . In addition to making the vegetable garden more coloured , flower can act as an organic pestilence ascendence by deterring sure pest . Somemarigolds , for example , can serve drive awaytomato hornworms , roundworm , and squash bugs . con planting .
WHAT MAKES A GOOD CUT FLOWER?
A spacious array of annual , perennials , bulbs , and shrubs can be used in a cutting garden . Plants with strong stems , a long vase lifespan , and a high yield typically make the adept cut flowers , but also look at the colors , the special flowers you love , and the room you want to fill with your floral excogitation . You may also require to include flowers just for their ability to add fragrance to a redolence , such aslavenderor flowering tobacco ( Nicotiana langsdorffii ) .
CUTTING GARDEN DESIGN TIPS
Plan for all seasons . When properly planned , a cut garden will keep your vases full of bouquet in every season . Grow spring - blooming bulbs and a variety of perennial that will flower in succession from early summertime through fall . For wintertime , admit a small shrub with undimmed berry , such aswinterberry . Also grow flowers that can be dry out for year - round arrangements , like celosia andglobe amaranth(Gomphrena globosa ) .
Grow prune - and - come - again flowers . Maximize the productivity of your cutting garden by include bloom that flower over and over again after you hack them , such as old maid . cut the stems from these flowers stimulates the ontogenesis of new stem turn and more blooms , honor you with a bountiful harvest throughout the season .
Cut - and - follow - again flower are especially useful if you have a little cutting garden with limited space because you’re able to grow fewer plants and still harvest a bumper crop .
Stagger planting time . For annuals that do n’t rebloom faithfully , you’re able to get a steady stream of flowers by chronological succession planting , says Benzakein . lurch the bloom times throughout the season also reserve you to keep up with the cutting . She recommends reserve 3 to 4 weeks between plantings , bet on your climate .
Aim for variety . To keep your floral arrangements from look monotonous , choose plants with a motley of flower texture , size , and shape . A combination of blooming that are spiky ( thinksalvia ) , Earth - shaped ( tryalliums ) , and umbelled ( such asyarrow ) will give you the most interesting displays .
Plant complementary colour . The most exciting floral arrangements blend a mixture of unlike colors , but you ’ll get the best results if those colors complement one another . For example , regal and xanthous flowers are always a beautiful combining , both in the garden and in a vase . Monochromatic color schemes that pair Christ Within and disconsolate shades of the same hue can also be quite outstanding . check coloration in the garden .
Do n’t forget foliage plants . “One of the self-aggrandizing mistakes newbies make is selecting only pretty bloom , and not take any greenery to mix them with , ” says Benzakein . Her recommended proportion is to devote half of the garden to bloom and the other half to mainstay foliage and makeweight plants that can provide material for the base of your reinvigorated flower arrangement .
But , also look around your survive garden beds forinteresting foliageto MBD to bouquets , such as fern frond and hosta leaves . Or try clip a fewaromatic herbsto use as fillers in your arrangements , such asrosemaryand sage .
Go native . Don’t overlook aboriginal wildflowers when designing your cutting garden , such as bee balm and black - eyed Susan . Not only arenative plantssuper - unfearing and easy to care for , they also help support local wildlife . Although it ’s tempting to produce hybrid flowers bred to have heavy , frillier blush , they often produce less pollen and nectar than the aboriginal species .
6 CUTTING GARDEN FAVORITES
Narcissus ‘ Pimpernel ’ Narcissus pseudonarcissus . Photo by Roger Foley .
DAFFODIL ( Narcissus )
Plant type : BulbZones : Typically 4 - 8 , but can vary by typeBloom time : Early to tardy spring
One of the first flowers to flower in spring , with thousands of varieties to choose from . For the longsighted vase life-time , harvest blooms before they have amply opened .
Learn daffodils .
‘ Queeny Lime Orange ’ old maid flower . Photo by Roger Foley .
ZINNIA ( Zinniaspp . )
Plant character : AnnualBloom time : Late spring until icing
One of the well cut - and - come - again flowers , pop the question great variety in color and form . Once they get constitute and start growing , these amazing plants will keep on produce nonstop if you harvest the blooms regularly .
pick up old maid flower flowers .
picture by Katherine Anderson .
SWEET PEA ( Lathyrus odorata )
Plant type : AnnualBloom meter : Early spring to former summer
Dainty fluff flowers in a blanket cooking stove of colors have an irresistible scent of honey and orange flower . In Zone 7 and above , sow seeds in belated fall for early spring bloom . In colder climate , sow in early spring .
Photo by Shannon Marie Ferfuson / Shutterstock .
GLADIOLUS ( Gladiolusxhortulanus )
flora type : BulbZones:8 - 10Bloom sentence : Early summer to ice
Nothing is more dramatic in a summer posy than the sheer spikes of freshly cut garden glads . This cutting garden favorite is not only easy to grow , it also look at up very little space when planted in recollective wrangle . And because the corms are inexpensive , you could farm them as annual and plant dissimilar colors and varieties each yr .
memorise gladiolus flowers .
At Last ® get up . picture by Proven Winners .
ROSE ( Rosaspp . )
Plant case : ShrubZones : Typically 4 - 11 , but can varyBloom fourth dimension : Spring through summertime
With their flashy blooms and intoxicating scent , roses are even more celestial indoors in a vase than they are in the garden . Varieties with farseeing stems and big fragrant bloom , such as hybrid tea leaf rose , often make the in effect cut flowers , but even miniature pink wine look charming when gather into small posy .
Learn more about thebest types of roses for your garden .
Photo by Proven Winners .
BLACK - EYED SUSAN ( Rudbeckiaspp . )
Plant case : PerennialZones:3 - 9Bloom time : Midsummer until frost
These fertile native wildflowers bloom in teemingness from midsummer through fall , afford you bucketful of blooms in cheery shades of yellow , orange , and gold . Like most wildflowers , they are also drought tolerant and low maintenance .
larn black - eyed Susan .
SEE MORE:24 topper FLOWERS FOR CUTTING GARDENS
