Topic: Cut flowers from the lottie

[SpeedyMango]

Hello.

A question from a beginner, and apologies if this has already been discussed...

I am thinking of setting aside a part of my plot next year to grow some "cut" flowers (if that's the right term).

1) What would people recommend for a complete beginner with flowers? When faced with the rows of seed packets in the garden centre I don't know where to start. Quite fancy some chrysanthemums, but don't know which are best/easiest to grow for cutting - or what else to try. We do like nice bright bold colours - oranges, purples, reds and so on (although not necessarily in the same vase!  :-X)

2) Can I just sow these things straight into the ground (in the Spring I assume?). I don't have a green house but I do have a sunny windowsill to start things off on, if required.

3) Do you have to use successional sowing to get a continuous crop of flowers or are all/some/only a few of them 'cut and come again'?

Any tips would be appreciated. I seem to be able to cope with most vegetables but have no idea where to start when it comes to the purely decorative stuff!
 

[Mrs Ava]

You are going to be showered with great advice here!

So, my little bit of input is this......  ;D  What about some bulbs, you still have time to get some daffs and tulips in for next spring, so cut flowers in the house when the nights are still cold and dark!  Then of course sweetpeas.  You could start them now, or wait until spring and grow them up wigwams.  So long as you keep picking them, they go on forever, and if you choose your variety well, not only do you get gorgeous colours but a knockout scent!  Dalias and chrysanths, altho I don't grow them so don't know about them, several boys on the lottie do and they are still stunning now, so think, wonderful blousey flowers into November!  And don't forget foliage plants like cerinthes, ivy and euphorbias.  I think there is such a vast selection of flowers you don't need to stagger sow, plus I believe that so long as you keep them dead headed, fed and watered, you will be picking flowers from spring right through until the first frosts...and if you can provide some protection, I am sure you could pick flowers for your christmas table!


Do check out Sarah Raven's website - www.http://www.thecuttinggarden.com/html/home.asp as she grows flowers for cutting

[sandersj89]

I am doing the same and have already started to pick flowers having only started the allotment in May this year.

I planted some chrysanthemums late summer and we are picking a good bunch once a week from 24 cuttings. These are incurved type and have heads about the size of a tennis ball. They will be lifted to over winter and this years plants will supply next years cuttings.

I have also planted sweet William, Pinks and Night Scented Stocks. The pinks were cuttings again so no flower crop yet. Sweet William were sown from seed this spring so will start to flower next summer, same for the Stocks.

Sweet William and Pinks are cut and come again and should supply flowers over a number of months.

I also plan on a variety of sweet peas. I grow some at home but will have a row at the allotment. I have selected a number of varieties and these are already sown in root trainers in the greenhouse.

I am going to try dahlias as well this year, plenty of brash colours and interesting forms.

There will also be statice and miniature sun flowers  for cutting and I have created a Tulip bed with 7 varieties planted at the end of September.

This should give us something to pick from spring through to November along with foliage from the home garden.

In general I have been treating them much the same as any other crop. Prepare the soil well, give them the right feed and watch for pest/disease and react accordingly. Most of the things I have mentioned above though are pretty tough.

HTH

Jerry

[aquilegia]

Chrysthans are dead easy. But make sure you get hardy ones and don't get dwarf ones if you want to pick them! THey grow really easily from cuttings. MIL took some cuttings from a bunch she bought and virtually all of them took. But unfortunately they weren't hardy.

As long as you keep picking the flowers, they will keep flowering. With plants like these it's only when you let them go to seed that they stop flowering.

I like cutting anything really in my garden. Recently I had a vase of purple Verbena Bonariensis (or however you spell it) and yellow Heleniums. It looked gorgeous. Both are easy to grow and have been flowering throughout the summer. The Verbena has finished now, but the Helenium carries on. Verbena is borderline hardy. But not hardy if you're up North. I have seeds of both if you want to swap.

I don't have a greenhouse either. I start most hardy seeds in the autumn in my plastic greenhouse and more tender things in spring on a windowsill.

[Wicker]

The bulbs I grow which can be picked are daffodils/narcissii, tulips, iris and Gladioli the latter two look very striking and you only need one or two in a slender vase to make an impact.  I also grow lillies but don't like the scent in the house!  

Otherwise my favourites are carnations/pinks and sweetpeas - both for their perfume in the house. Of course there is the lavendar for scent as well - "packed" in a small vase they are lovely. I grow some begonias and various dahlias  but don't often take them home - don't ask me why  ???  Really you can pick most flowers.

[ACE]

At £1.99 a bunch from any garage why waste valuable growing space.Purple sprouting and cauli looks good in a vase, you can also break a bit of to nibble. Cut flowers remind me of funerals.

[Wicker]

Oh, Heritage, my flowers are valuable to me!!  Don't have a garden just a balcony and over the years have managed to be very inventive with squeezing in flowers and plenty of veggies on the allotment.  That's my leisure area so I am entitled to some bright colours and a bit of gorgeous scent while I am enjoying my well earned cuppas after all my hard work .. and bring some of that home with me is an added bonus  :) :) :)  Have found the garage flowers do not have the same scent - carnations with practically no perfume at all I'm afraid  ::)

[sandersj89]

Couldn't agree more Wicker. And they are a good investment if you like cut flowers in the house. A bag of Tulip bulbs might set your back £10 but will supply many times in terms of savings over shop bought flowers over a few years, even garage flowers!

Jerry

[Mrs Ava]

Plus flowers help bring in all of those beneficial insects we need to get things pollinated, and some can put off not so beneficial bugs!  Even the smallest patch of flowers looks great.  When my sunflowers were in bloom it was a joy walking onto the site and seeing them glowing in the sunshine!  I for one will be growing more flowers next year.  ;D

[SpeedyMango]

Thanks for the tips! Sorry it went a bit quiet - was a bit poorly for the last few days. Normal service has now been resumed.  :)

I've already got some spring bulbs in. I shall have a go at the sweet peas and some of the other things recommended.

[campanula]

hi there speedy
 a always grow loads of flowers, in their own beds or round the edges of vegetable beds or anywhere, in fact, that there is a space. These are what have been good for me:
Cornflowers - easy and last ages in water - and that blue!
Larkspur, again, another easy and long-lasting flower.
Rudbeckia, sunflowers, helenium - the yellow daisies always look good, especially late in the season.
Monarda - lovely spicy smell.
Sweet peas - naturally
nasturtiums - look gorgeous plonking handfuls in jam jars.
dahlias - plenty to recommend them, especially the deep reds and purples.
bulbs: nanus gladioli, much daintier than the huge florist ones. Narcissi- especially jonquilla types. Tulips - as many as possible and now is the best time to plant them
Incarvillea - a dainty pale yellow or pink annual - Kings or Chiltern seeds sell them - not so well known yet but so gorgeous with trumpet flowers on dainty stems and ferny foliage.
Asters
campanulas, i grow canterbury bells.
scabious - easily grown. late in the season
african daisies such as arctotis, gaillardia, gazania, ursinia, dimorpotheca and venidium.
Zinnias, cheerful and easy.
Cosmos - any of them but tall white Purity are fab.
Orlaya - good in the vase
Will be trying prairie gentian (eustoma or lisianthus) and maybe platycodon this year.
Have fun (and a colourful plot).
cheers, suzy