Is anyone an expert in growing cut flowers?

[CharlieSierra]

I am reasonably experienced in the garden but have never had a cutting garden. My daughter is getting married next July and I would like to grow some of the flowers myself, not the main ones but it's a summer wedding in a barn and we want loads of flowers. Any advice, tips and major pitfalls would be very welcome.

The link goes to a lovely cutting garden florist.....there are plenty of pics on the website for ideas. They grow some beautiful flowers for weddings.....bouquets and decorations.
Foxtail Lilly

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Cut-Flower-Patch-flowers/dp/0711234752 The Cut Flower Patch]] is a brilliant and beautiful book (she blogs as Welly Woman and has lots of posts on her blog too. I am not an expert but was really successful this year (first time). I grew nicotiana, zinnias, dahlias, cosmos, antirrhinum, sunflowers, malope and bupleurum all from seed. I also bought scabious and cosmos from Sarah Raven which did well but not until later in the season. I also recommend looking at the Higgidy Garden blog as he has some excellent posts on how to start your garden as well as selling seeds. The Sarah Raven catalogue is also great for ideas, her seeds can be a bit more expensive though.

The Cut Flower Patch

Rachel de Thame did it on Gardeners World last year over a few programmes. Hers were amazing and she did it in expensively in about 3 x 15 foot beds I think?

Definitely worth watching

I found a book called The Flower Farmer by Lynn Byczynski - it's American but you can get it on Amazon. More about growing flowers on a large scale to sell but still relevant to smaller garden plots.

Lovely thanks all. silversixpence did you start any of yours off in the autumn, or wait until spring? I'll see if I can find the gardeners world programmes, that would be great.

I started all of mine around April I think, some a bit later.

I've done this twice for both offspring's weddings.

Staggered sowings, with some direct sown and some in trays or modules help. You can sow sweet peas shortly, and then again in Feb. Be ruthless about thinning so that you have strong healthy plants. Support the plants too, to get straight stems. Maybe buy in some plug plants next Spring (Sarah Raven has great choice, but relatively pricey and variable quality, Crocus surprisingly good value for ammi which is brilliant for weddings).

Remember foliage, and sow some green annuals, florist's dill is great, and you can use sage and rosemary.

Don't underesitmate the amount of time it takes to cut, condition and arrange, get lots and lots of help. And you need a helluva lot of flowers. Work out how many arrangements you plan to do, and calculate the number of stems you need. Sort out vases etc well in advance.

Second the book suggestions above and Sarah Raven's Cutting Garden is also v useful.

Finally, have fun doing it! For me this meant being v organised and asking for and accepting help.

Thank you GrannyGoggles very excited. I have the books, the plan is taking shape. Hope for a good summer.