I love to grow flowers for the house but some do not last long indoors. I find daffodils and sweet peas do O.K. but roses soon wilt. What flowers can anyone suggest for different times of the year?
astromeleria , pink smell nice too chrysanthemums gladies ;D ;D
sarah raven grows zinnia, asters, lilies cobeus scandon but i do't know about how long their vase life is
This article by Sarah Raven, who's considered to be the cut flower expert, should help you
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningadvice/3348522/Gardening-The-best-flowers-for-cutting.html
Sunflowers, scabious,sweet williams -I also grow dahlias not long in the vase but each plant yields so many flowers it is not a problem.
I'm a huge fan of zinnias too....just sown my first batch today, do a second batch in June for late summer colour.... ;D
I got various seeds from moreveg.co.uk that are supposed to be good for cutting - bupleurum Graffiti, achillea ballerina, agastache, bells of Ireland, and gypsophilia. They do the seeds in small quantity and very cheap, so might be worth a browse. The site doesn't seem to work properly, in that the Flowers link from the front page only takes you to Flowers A to C. So click on Search on the lefthand side, where you can also select Flowers D to L and Flowers M to Z, and just leave the search box empty and click 'search'.
Nice selection, I'm already tempted to try more...
I could do with a good leaf to use in flower arrangements, any ideas of something I could plant for that?
Asparagus gives the classic florist's fern... :)
Cosmos, Asters and Cornflower make good cut flowers. I also grow Pinks 'Mrs Sinkins' which is one of the old varieties and highly scented for cut flowers.
Zinnias last a very long time and keep producing all summer- my favorite.
Gladioli are easy to grow and as the lower blooms wilt on the stem in the vase I pull them off and trim the stem shorter which makes them last I'd guess a week.
This time of year I bring in branches of flowering trees and Japanese quince- all are good for quite a long stretch and look good even before the buds pop open.
What variety of Zinnia do you grow, Annie?I got some last year but they turned out to have tiny flowers- pretty, but not what I'd expected!
Quote from: caroline7758 on April 15, 2009, 17:32:25
What variety of Zinnia do you grow, Annie?I got some last year but they turned out to have tiny flowers- pretty, but not what I'd expected!
I agree- worthless are the small zinnias (Persian Carpet, Lilliput, Thumbelina) - so nice to be able to see the bigger blooms flowering from inside the house. I also say no to the bi-color for the same reason- tried a candy-striped one once and it wasn't worth it.
I like them at least 18 inches tall (but they usually get 3 - 4 feet high which can be gawky, either round or pointy petals, especially like the shaggy ones. The butterflies love them as well. The seed gets harvested from the best blooms in the Fall, then broadcast into scratched soil anywhere there is an open spot and the seedlings get transplanted with an old spoon to fill in anywhere (you can tell this is NOT a formal garden!) Sometimes I buy a one-color seed packet of the pompom or button type which form a low mound to do an edging / into big pots to fill in gaps.
My Mother likes to have a special bed for cut flowers but has often struggled to grow the right flowers for cutting in it! Many traditional/cottage annuals are good garden plants but not so good to cut. So last year i took over the selection (and yes growing ::) ) of the plants for 'the cutting bed'. I confess i looked to Sarah Raven for inspiration. I used:
Sunflowers (more as a backdrop/windbreak than for cutting)
Cosmos bipinatus 'Seashells'
Zinnias
Pot marigolds (calendula, english marigolds)
Lavatera trimestris 'Silver Cup' - an annual version of the popular shrub.
Would have used more but i ran out of space.
The lavatera i find particularly good no matter what the weather although the Zinnias were disappointing due to the weather last summer. Overall pretty good results.
This year i might change things around a bit and maybe use a few dahlias or perhaps china asters instead of the zinnias or marigolds.