Creating a cutting garden

Setting aside a spot in your yard to grow flowers just for cutting all summer to make into bouquets is a goal of many gardeners, and it is easily done with a little planning. Traditionally, a cutting garden contains mainly annuals, meaning flowers that go through their entire life cycle in one year. Their seeds germinate in spring. The plants grow relatively fast to the blooming stage in early to mid-summer and then set seed and die with the last frosts of the year. Many gorgeous cutting gardens are composed entirely of annuals. They are profuse and colorful, rewarding the gardener with loads of flowers throughout summer and into fall. Annuals are such great bloomers that you can cut flowers from them without harming the plant, for most of the season. In fact, removing flowers from the plant encourages it to produce more flowers. A cutting garden can also include some summer annual bulbs, like Gladiolus and Dahlia.

Getting started

Choose a sunny site (at least six hours per day of sun) with good, pH balanced soil that drains well. It should be close to a water source, so you won’t need to haul water long distances. Soaker hoses, laid around the plants, will water the bed efficiently. Consider getting a soil test done if you haven’t recently. The results can be surprising, and the tests through Penn State Extension are inexpensive. You may need to add nutrients and/or organic matter, such as compost. Plan to add a layer of mulch once everything is planted.

Two different layouts are possible, depending on the space available — long rows of one flower variety per row with walking paths between, or one deep bed with steppingstones which will allow access to all flowers. A deep bed can be a mix of flowers rather than uniform rows of one flower. Diversity like this may even help with pest control.

Draw up a simple sketch of where and what you want to plant. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Tall flowers should be in the back (oriented so they don’t shade the other flowers), medium-sized plants in the middle, and shorter ones up front.

Since annual flowers grow intensely for about five or six months only, they can be planted rather close together. For example, a 3- by 6-foot bed will typically be enough room for 15 to 20 plants, with no need for steppingstones. A deeper bed, 6 feet or more, will need some paths so you can reach the flowers in the back. Close spacing has the benefits of shading out weeds and conserving moisture. Most annuals need supplemental feeding to produce heavily, so plan to apply a water-soluble fertilizer on a regular basis.

Flower choices — so many, it’s hard to choose

When deciding what flowers to plant, it helps to think ahead to the styles, colors, and sizes of bouquets you plan to make, as well as what your favorite flowers are. To ensure you’ve covered all the possibilities, consider the four categories of plants that are used in making spectacular bouquets — focal flowers, line flowers, filler flowers and foliage. The examples given below include only annuals and summer annual bulbs. Many perennials can also be used and will add a lot of variety. Perennials are listed later in the article. The biggest challenge may be in selecting which colors to grow. There are so many options available. Choose the colors you like the best. And remember, next year and the year after, you can experiment with completely different flowers and colors, since annuals must be replaced each season.

Focal flowers include sunflowers (Helianthus annus), geraniums (Pelargonium x hybridum), and larger dahlias. Focal flowers make a statement and command attention. These are typically used sparingly in a bouquet. A small to medium bouquet may feature only three, whereas a large bouquet may include up to five focal flowers. Choose sunflower and dahlia varieties that produce smaller flowers (about 4 to 5 inches in diameter), not the dinner-plate size.

Line flowers have long, slender stems full of flowers, such as snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus), larkspur (Consolida ajacis), stock (Matthiola incana), bells of Ireland (Moluccella laevis), and summer bulbs such as Gladiolus. Line flowers add an important element to any bouquet, by using their height and long lines to draw the eye up and outward. Love lies bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus) is also a line flower, but its long, drooping tassels add a unique presence to a bouquet.

Filler flowers are medium to small flowers that are often finely textured. Filler flowers provide a needed visual break from the bigger focal and line flowers in bouquets. What they do provide are beautiful colors and shapes. Favorites include zinnias (Zinnia elegans), scabiosas (Scabiosa atropurpurea), sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) (grow and use the varieties with long flower stems), cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus), bachelor’s buttons (Centaurea cynasis), celosia (Celosia argentea), feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) (small daisies), ammi (Ammi majus) (looks like Queen Anne’s lace), and dill (Anethum graveolens). Cosmos will grow and flower better in soil that is not too fertile, so set aside a good spot for them away from the rich soil of the main bed or grow them in large pots that are not fertilized.

Foliage adds texture to a bouquet and can also provide some interesting color tones. Foliage is often used as a “base” in an arrangement, meaning it covers the bottom edge of the container. Foliage can, of course, be used throughout a design as a filler, too. Green tones are helpful because they are rather neutral and give the eye a place to rest from the other colors of the arrangement. If some contrast is desired, dusty miller (Centaurea cineraria) offers a fuzzy, silver-gray toned leaf that can be very pretty in arrangements.

Various herbs are nice to include, such as rosemary and basil, both the green and the darker, purple shades. Try coleus (Coleus scutellarioides) as a colorful addition to a bouquet, as it is an excellent cut stem. Vines also add a beautiful element to bouquets, with or without flowers. Passionflower vines (Passiflora caurulea) are considered annuals in our region, but offer beautiful, exotic flowers as well as green leafy vines. Delicate vines can provide a whimsical and feminine look.

If all these variables seem too complicated to implement, note that by just selecting a variety of flower shapes, you can create a very interesting bouquet. Flowers can be categorized as having ball shapes, single flowers, double flowers, spikey petals, vertical spires, sprays (clusters of smaller flowers), flower vines, and flat cymes (as in viburnum, dill, yarrow, and some hydrangeas).

Bouquets of annual flowers are beautiful, but…

Many flowering shrubs provide beautiful cut stems for bouquets, including several types of viburnums, hydrangeas, and garden roses, such as David Austin roses. Unlike the annuals in your cutting beds, they have shorter blooming periods, so you will need to be observant and use these flowers when they are available. The number of blooms available to you may be limited, unless you want to cut off to use all the flowers that adorn your landscape borders. If there are shrubs or perennials that you really want to use, enlarge and add these plants to your cutting garden area.

Early bloomers that finish before most annuals are flowering will look fine on their own in a vase or can be mixed with flowers picked up at a local florist or market. Examples of early shrubs and trees are forsythia (Forsythia spp.), flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa), lilac (Syringa spp.), pussy willow (Salix discolor), redbud (Cercis canadensis), spirea (especially Spiraea x vanhouttei, or ‘Bridal Wreath’), witch hazel (Hamamelis spp.), flowering dogwood (Cornus spp.), cherry (Prunus spp.), and crabapple (Malus hybrids).

Perennial flowers have their own blooming season, typically a month or less. Daylilies (Hemerocallis) are great perennials, but are not good cut flowers, since each bloom on the stem lasts just one day.

Many perennials make excellent focal flowers, such as lilies, peonies, phlox, and irises. Their blooming periods can be extended by selecting early-, mid-, and late-blooming varieties. Perennials that can be considered line flowers include veronicas (Veronica spicata), astilbes (Astilbe x arendsii), lupines (Lupinus x hybrida), and delphiniums (Delphinium elatum).

Filler perennials include yarrow (Achillea millefolium), coneflowers (Echinacea spp.), lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis), Shasta daisies (Leucanthemum x superbum), sea holly (Eryngium planum), statice (Limonium sinuatum), baby’s breath (Gypsophila paniculata), spray roses (floribunda or polyantha types), globe thistle (Echinops spp.), mint (Mentha spp.), as well as many ornamental grasses.

Boxwoods, hollies, arborvitae, and similar evergreens can add attractive foliage to bouquets. A nice small shrub, Euonymous fortunei, comes in cultivars with leaves that are all green, variegated green and white, or variegated green and yellow, as with the cultivar ‘Gold Splash’. All these evergreen shrubs make excellent cut stems and hold up very well in bouquets. Try hosta’s foliage and flowers in bouquets as well. Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) is a beautiful shrub with cultivars that have copper, red, and/or purple foliage. It is highly prized in cut arrangements.

Vining perennials include clematis (Clematis spp.) and honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). Some clematis develop spherical, furry seed heads that add a nice textural interest to late-season bouquets.

If you have any questions about cutting gardens, Penn State Master Gardeners are ready and able to help you. The Luzerne County Penn State Extension Office is in West Pittston. The Lackawanna County office is in Scranton. We have soil test kits, brochures, and staff who can answer questions about your gardening projects. We also have a Garden Hotline, via telephone or email, to address your questions. Our Hotline phone number is 570-602-0622; email is LuzerneMG@psu.edu.

Enjoy your summer and share with us your experiences in gardening.