Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Growing a cutting garden
Have you ever thought of growing a cutting garden? Yes? Then this ‘Bite is for you!
Sunflowers, which many folks have grown this year, is an excellent cut flower. You see them everywhere at farmers markets! You can buy the potted plants of Sunfinity now and get them growing. It’s too late to start seeds now so save this Garden Bite, make notes, and plan for next year.
Zinnias make great cut flowers too and are SO easy to grow! Start them from seed next year or pick them up at your local nursery now.
Marigolds, celosia, cosmos are also awesome for cut flower arrangements.
In fact, marigold ‘Starfire Mix’ produces 15-20 branching stems and multitudes of penny-sized flowers.
Cosmos adds that airy look and they are wonderful as they are the perfect “cut-and-come-again” flower, the more you harvest, the more you get!
Strawflower adds texture fresh or dried.
And then there are perennials such as coneflowers, foxglove and rudbeckia.
Dahlias are delightful too!
When creating your display:
- harvest your flowers early in the morning
- get those newly cut stems in a bucket of water right away
- let them hang out and hydrate for about an hour
- when placing them in your vase be sure to remove the leaves that would be in water
- recut the stem for better water uptake
For more information and many more flowers to grow for a cutting garden click on this link to the National Garden Bureau.
