Be Picnic and Tanglewood ready:
A cutting garden is an out-of-the-way but sunny spot for annuals to grow and bloom but where they don't need to look 'arranged'. Perennials for cutting are solid, long-blooming plants that have their seasonal showy time.
Angelonia has spikes of white and blue, light blue, dark blue and looks like a small annual delphinium.
Annual Flowers Suitable for Use as Cut Flowers
Most can be located INSIDE in the LARGE GREENHOUSES
- Choose repeat-blooming annual plants for cutting gardens because you will get a longer season of bloom than with many perennial plants.
- In general, a good cut flower has a stem long enough and sturdy enough to hold the flower in an arrangement
- A cut flower should be one that lasts and looks good for several days.
Clumps of peony outlast many homes and homeowners. A classic for June gardens.
Perennial Flowers Suitable for Use as Cut Flowers
Most will be found OUTDOORS in our PERENNIAL YARD
- Consider long-blooming perennials for cutting such as Heuchera or Fringed Bleeding-heart (Dicentra eximia) that produce flowers all season, especially if they are regularly picked.
- Long and sturdy-stemmed flowers are the most useful.
- Some, such as Echinacea and Rudbeckia produce bold, bristly seedheads that are ideal for floral crafts. Perennials can be depended upon to bloom next season - no need to replant that part of the cutting garden.
- Foliage plants contribute texture and color to both fresh and dried arrangements. Silver-leafed artemisia varieties, lamb's ears and herbs such as lavender contribute grayish-silver foliage that is both handsome and aromatic.