Start your own cut flower patch

3 Mar

I am lucky to have my own garden, and as you might imagine as a Garden Designer, I have created a space that works for me and my family.

One of the areas I introduced a few years ago was a cut flower patch. This started as two raised beds and my first attempt to grow from seed.

I adore growing my own cut flowers for so many reasons;

The variety it gives me to try things that you don’t see in a garden center
The sustainability aspect of not buying flowers from a supermarket that have been flown across the world
The connection to the seasons, and watching the positive impact it has on pollinators
And the sheer joy it gives me to cut them to fill my house with vasefuls of flowers, and gifting to friends and family!

Will my garden be left looking dull if I cut all my flowers?

Most cut flowers are short lived, known as annuals. This means that they are here for a season and will flower to create seed to spread and grow again.

The positive side of this means that you need to keep cutting them/deadheading them to keep them flowering and looking their best.

Having a small space where you grow cut flowers, or mixing a few cut flowers into your borders means that you can cut guilt free as you will leave your perennials and shrubs in the garden to enjoy.

But, I am not green fingered

You don’t need to be an expert grower to give cut flowers a go.

Whilst there is some benefit in buying equipment and sowing seed to plant later when established. If you wait until the frost has passed most seed can be started by directly sowing into the ground.

If growing from seed terrifies you, then you could always start out with things such as Tulips, Daffodils and Dahlia’s which are grown as bulbs and tubers.

Seed is a lot less expensive than plants, all good seed suppliers will have clear instructions, and if you buy a pack and some don’t germinate the cost is much less – so why not give it a go?

Ok, I am tempted, what do I need to know?

Sunlight

Most cut flowers need sunlight to thrive. Partial sunlight is considered to be sun for 4-6 hours a day and full sun is anything over 6 hours.

This is important when considering where to choose a location.

Location

Cut flowers can be grown in pots, raised beds, in borders or even added to an allotment.

If you opt for pots its worth remembering that they will need more water than the ground, and you will need to support plants with bamboo canes, but it’s completely achievable.

If you want to transform a new section in your garden but don’t want to pay out on raised beds, you can consider a ‘no dig’ approach. Charles Dowding has written extensively on this from a perspective of growing veg, but the principles to creating a bed are perfect for flowers too.

Simply identify an area of lawn, place a couple of layers of carboard directly on the grass (being careful to remove all stickers and tape) and cover with a thick layer of compost. You will be able to plant directly into this.

What shall I grow?

Some of my favourite cut flowers are also some of the easiest to grow. I will share my top 5 with you, which will give you variety from Spring through to Autumn.

But choosing what to grow can often be the best bit so feel free to find things you love!

Sweet peas

Sweet peas are a hardy annual, they grow vertically and will need something to grow up. This can be an obelisk, bamboo canes or an arch way.

I love them for the nostalgia, they come in a huge variety of colours, are a classic cottage garden staple and have the most wonderful scent.

Sweet peas will flower from late Spring through to Summer. They need very regular deadheading/picking to prevent the plants producing seed pods.

They also need to be kept well-watered as they will suffer in heat and drought.

Cosmos

Cosmos is a staple to any cut flower patch. The daisy-like flower heads are a magnet for pollinators, they flower profusely and even the foliage had a beautiful delicate texture.

There is slightly less colour choice, mainly shades of white and pink, but you can pick these for months.

They don’t like the cold so don’t sow into the ground or plant out before the last frosts, but they will flower all Summer up to early Autumn.

Scabiosa

Scabiosa have a wonderful pin cushion like form which look wonderful bobbing in the breeze, and in a vase.

They typical come in the classic cottage garden colours, blues, pinks and burgundy, and will flower through Summer to early Autumn.

They are a magnet for butterflies and pollinators too.

Foxgloves

Foxgloves are biennial, which just means that they take two years to flower.

These will often self seed very well, so if you have had them in the garden before the likelihood is you will notice more pop up.

Foxgloves aren’t your typical cut and come again flower, although once the main spike has been removed often smaller spikes will appear.

But I love them in the cut flower patch because of how statuesque they look. Due to their height, they look impressive in larger vases and they start to flower in early Spring.

Dahlias

Last but certainly not least is Dahlia’s.

These plants come in a wide range of varieties and colours, from the small pom-pom variety to the huge dinner plate types (yes they really can produce flowers the size of a dinner plate!).

These are similar to Cosmos as they don’t like the cold weather so planting them out should be done only when there is no further risk of frost.

Once the tubers are in the ground they will need some protection from slugs, and staking e.g. with bamboo canes, but once established they are fairly low maintenance.

They will flower all Summer long, right up until the first frost. As 2022 was a strange year for weather I actually still had Dahlia’s flowering in November!

They need regular deadheading/cutting to get the most from them. This is perfect though as it means you can very easily fill a vaseful every week from only a couple of plants.

All this cut flower chat has got me feeling very excited or the 2023 season.

Has this made you re-consider incorporating cut flowers into your garden? I would love to hear if you grow your own cut flowers, or are considering starting this year.