Cut Flowers I’m Growing This Year
It’s true what they say about catching the gardening bug. One summer you’re testing out a few vegetables, the next summer a few more, and maybe a few flowers. Three or four years later and you’re growing a cut flower garden, offering subscription bouquets, and writing a gardening blog.
Over the past few years, I’ve certainly gone through quite a bit of trial and error when it comes to gardening. While I’m certainly no expert, I’ve had my fair share of failures and have learned a lot, and quickly. To all of my ADHD queens - cut flowers are my most recent obsession and I’ve made it my mission to learn everything about them that I can.
So without further ado, these are the cut flowers I’m growing this year, starting with some of the most obvious/popular.
Zinnias
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it 1,000 times. Zinnias are a fantastic and easy cut flower to grow as a first time gardener. They grow under (almost) any condition and produce endless bounties of blooms. They’re heat loving and considered cut-and-come-again flowers, so the more you cut them, the more they produce. This year, I’m growing several different varieties to fit either my buttery yellow or moody maroon bouquet themes, and they’ll be some of the focal flowers for those bouquets.
Benary’s Giant White
Oklahoma Ivory
Queeny Red Lime
Ballerina
Zinderella Peach
Photos from Johnny’s Selected Seeds or Eden Brothers.
Cosmos
Another great flower for first time growers - cosmos! They’re light, airy, frilly, and grow easily under most conditions. Just like zinnias, they’re heat-loving cut-and-come again flowers that produce whimsical blooms all summer long. This year, I’m growing three varities, all from Johnny’s Seeds:
Afternoon White
Rubenza
Double Click Cranberries
Photos from Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Strawflower
A great textural addition to bouquets with tons of variation in each variety. Strawflower can be used fresh or can be dried for use in fall bouquets or wreaths. Since this is my first year growing it, and it’s a cut-and-come again flower, I’m starting small with only two different varieties:
Creamy White
Cranberry Rose
Photos from Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Calendula
This was a first for me and I really struggled to get either type to germinate indoors for some reason. I tried starting three different rounds in seed trays indoors and only got one seed seed to germinate of each type. As soon as the ground was workable, I threw a hail marry and direct sowed all of the remaining seeds I had. Shockingly enough, they germinated like crazy. I’m not sure what the difference in conditions did, but I’ve learned my lesson on attempting to start these indoors. Similar to strawflower, this is my first year growing calendula so I stuck to two varieties to keep from getting overwhelmed:
Ivory Princess
Sunset Bluff
Photos from Eden Brothers.
Scabiosa
Scabiosa is one that I started too late in the season last year and didn’t get a ton of production out of, so I’m hoping this year goes smoother! I learned my lesson this year with germination…scabiosa seeds are seeds that typically don’t germinate well at all after one year. I had my seed packs from last year and ended up ordering a few new ones since they weren’t germinating well. So far, they’re doing okay! Fingers crossed they continue to grow and produce throughout the summer. The three varieties I’m growing this year are:
Black Knight
Fata Morgana
Starflower
Photos from Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Carnations, Lisianthus, & Rudbeckia
This year I decided to try to grow carnations for the first time from seeds. In general, they’re not my favorite flower, but I found a soft buttery yellow variety called Marie Chabaud (below left) that I’m very excited for. Because of their long growing timeline, I started them indoors about 10 weeks before my last frost, and just planted them out a few weeks ago. They’re slow moving but seem to be doing healthy!
Lisianthus is a flower that I’ve always adored but have never tried growing because of it’s reputation for being difficult to start from seed. This year for Christmas, I got several gift cards to Farmer Bailey’s Garden Club and decided to pull the trigger on some lisi plugs! I ordered 8 plugs each of both Voyage 2 White (below center) and Rosanne 3 Brown (below right) and am so excited to see how they do.
I’m also growing Cherry Brandy Rudbeckia from seed for the first time this year. I started them inside way before our last frost and transplanted them out right around our last frost date. So far, they seem to be growing well, but something has been munching on their leaves so I may have to plant a few companion plants around them. Because these are a medium producer, I started several different rounds of them a few weeks apart to try to even out my harvest windows.
Photos from Johnny’s Selected Seeds and Farmer Bailey’s Garden Club.
Here’s hoping they all stay healthy and bloom all summer long! I’d love to know others experiences growing some of these flowers, so feel free to leave a comment about your personal growing experience!