Beautiful and Easy Flowers for a Cut Flower Garden

Zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers…just to name a few! There are many different varieties of flowers available that are perfect for your homegrown cut flower garden. Easy to grow and absolute workhorses in the garden, they will fill your summer garden with beautiful blooms all season long.

Cut Flowers

Cut flowers are characterized by flower varieties that come in a wide array of bright, vibrant colors, with long stems and usually a very long vase life. They are low maintenance and provide large blooms that bloom over and over again. For a home gardener, choosing the right flowers and varieties can have you enjoying fresh flowers from early spring all the way through late fall in most growing zones.

I have provided a short list of some of my personal favorite cut flowers, although there are many, many more that I could list. Creating your own cut flower garden is simple when adding in these easy to grow favorites.

Sunflowers

The quintessential cut flower. Although they are not cut and come again flowers (meaning you just get one bloom per stem for most varieties) they have a beauty to them that is hard to match. They grow on sturdy stems and look beautiful in summer and fall bouquets. There are also hundreds of varieties to choose from. Plus, they are so darn easy to grow! Direct sow them in late spring when all danger of frost has passed. They sprout quickly and will have you enjoying their beautiful blooms in no time. Some of my favorite varieties are Procut Gold, Greenburst and Peach.

Zinnias

Hands down the easiest and best cut flower for beginner and seasoned gardeners. There are hundreds, if not thousands of different varieties of zinnias out there, and for good reason! They make excellent cut flowers and are loved by home gardeners and flower farmers alike. Their bright, happy colors make great additions to any cutting garden. An all around great choice. I am particularly fond of the “Benary’s Giant” series that comes in a mix of colors. I have also bought zinnia seeds from specialty growers like Floret. Zinnias do well direct sown into the garden once it has warmed up consistently outdoors. I also start them in plug trays with high germination rates!

Cosmos

Cosmos make a great addition to any cut flower garden. Much like zinnias and sunflowers, they are very easy to grow. Cosmos are beautiful annual flowers that like it hot and sunny. They require very little maintenance and pump out tons of blooms throughout the growing season. Some of my favorite varieties are Fizzy White, Double Click Cranberries, and Double Click Rose Bon Bon, to name a few.

Rudbeckia

A flower that is more commonly known as a black-eyed susan, they are not only perennial flowers (meaning they will come back the following year), but they make great cut flowers too! They are also workhorses in the garden, pumping out so many blooms it can be hard to keep up with them. They look great in a cutting garden or in flower beds for that signature cottage garden look. Some of my favorite varieties are Indian Summer, Prairie Sun, and Sahara.

Dahlias

My goodness it is easy to get hooked on dahlias. A favorite for many people, dahlias offer beauty that is unlike any other flower. They may seem intimidating since they are most commonly grown from tubers rather than seeds, but I promise they are very easy to grow. They will also last from year to year when dug up and stored properly! The one major drawback to dahlias is they do not last a long time in a vase, only blooming beautifully for a few days before they begin to show signs of decay. It would be impossible to list all of my favorite varieties but Appleblossom, Linda’s Baby, Molly Ann, Cafe Au Lait, and Einstein are a few.

Homegrown Bouquets

All of these beautiful flowers look great in cut flower arrangements. Throughout the growing season, I often find myself out in the garden in quiet of the early morning, cutting flowers and putting together small arrangements before the rest of the house wakes up. I enjoy keeping bouquets of fresh flowers all throughout the house to enjoy, and of course sharing them with others.

Tips for Success

• All cut flowers do best when cut first thing in the early morning, before it gets too hot. If cut in the heat of the day, they are prone to wilting in the vase.
• Place all cut flowers immediately into a bucket or vase full of cold, clean water.
• When creating a cut flower arrangement, add some floral preservative to the water to help the flowers last longer.
• Do some research into your average last frost date. This will help you know when is best to plant each flower variety.
• All of these flower varieties like it hot and sunny. Be sure to plant them in full sun locations and provide plenty of water for best results.
• Most flowers prefer rich, well-draining soil that has been amended with some sort of organic matter and organic fertilizer. I use compost in all of my cut flower beds, and prefer to use Espoma fertilizers and soil amendments when I do my initial planting of flowers. I also fertilize regularly throughout the growing season!
• Be aware of pests! Zinnias (especially in the humid south where I garden) are prone to powdery mildew, particularly in late summer. All flowers are also prone to bug damage throughout the season. Slugs in particular are big fans of dahlias.

Favorite Seed Sources

Some of my favorite resources for buying cut flower seeds include Johnny’s Seeds, Baker Creek, and Swallowtail Gardens, just to name a few. Be sure to check with your local garden centers too! The back of all the seed packets will provide a lot of helpful growing information for each flower variety.

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Happy growing!!

Rachael