Making a cut flower garden.

[Sleeplessinseattle234]

I have a relatively new garden ( two years ) and I’m going to do a large section for a cut flower garden. I have a few seeds in mind. If you have a cut flower garden and tips? What flowers do u grow.

Also. Another question. Are there any cut flowers that have shallow roots? I have some previous window boxes and wondered if they would be deep enough

I really like cut and come gain type flowers. If it's 'one and done', like a tulip or a daffodil I just won't cut it no matter what I tell myself. So have a think if you would!

Best bang for buck I think are dahlias, which have a long, late-ish season and you can cut and cut them. Zinnias too, though they're not as productive.

Cosmos are really productive too.

Sweet peas are terrific for earlier on. Beautiful fragrance and you HAVE to cut them as they'll stop producing if the flower turns to seed.

Have a look at the Sarah Raven website, as you'll find loads of inspiration there, and will be able to narrow down what look you like, what colours, what shapes... Do you like foliage to go along with, etc...

And remember that you can buy the plants much cheaper elsewhere!

Nb Nigella have very shallow roots and might go well in a planter, but they might flop a bit.

How much sun will your flower areas get?

Cosmos are a no brainer, cornflowers, calendula, nigella, scabious, ammi, dahlias.

I adore zinnias and sunflowers but have to do constant battle with slugs to get them going.

I found Higgledy a good place for advice and to buy seeds.

Higgledy Garden

I am at the start of planning a cut flower garden too. I moved into a new house last year and spent some time testing out different flowers that I like and that work well in my garden. I’m still testing things out, but have found cosmos to be my favourite by a mile!

They are easy to grow from seed, and aslong as you deadhead them, they will keep flowering. Mine are still going strong now and are so beautiful. They are also pretty sturdy, unlike some flowers that loose petals easily, you can be a bit rough with these when arranging and they will still have all their petals and still stand strong. The foliage makes a great filler too.

Also, you can easily harvest seeds from your plants for the next season 🥰

A couple of others I like that aren’t intentional, but found to be good fillers that were mostly in my garden when we moved in and just tried and tested them as cut and dried flowers:

• Honesty (brilliant when dried and also easy to collect seeds)
• Dried Poppy Seed Heads
• Verbena
• Feverfew
• Achellia Mollis
• Yarrow
• Lavender (always)
• Eucalyptus
• Achillea Ptarmica (beautiful small white flowers, also good dried)

As you can probably tell, I like quite natural and wild bouquets, so these might not be to your taste, but hopefully you find something different / useful.

Bhudlejia flowers also look great in a vase.
I love poppies, but they just din’t last at all in a vase, they are too delicate and last less than a day with their petals 😔

No-one’s really answered OP’s second question as to which of these could be grown successfully in a window box. Obviously not Buddleia 😀

I grew cerinthe in a window box. Marigolds should be fine too.
Snapdragons are another idea for the garden itself.
Sarah Raven has a book (of course she has!) called "Grow your own cut flowers". Actually my copy is very old so it's probably been superceded, but lots of good ideas and advice.
Which I have yet to act on, but I've got an allotment now and I'm putting in a cutting garden patch.

In a window box …
téte a téte daffodils , muscari , Ivy , pansies , viola ( make some bud vase size arrangements )

in a border ….
something big and green and leafy like a fatsia ( lasts for ages at the back of an arrangement )
magnolia ( beautiful buds you can cut )
roses
honesty ( needs 2 years , I think )
small sunflowers
osteporum ( dont know how to spell it , but I grew loads from cuttings and they’re hardy )

everything else mentioned above ^^

I had great success this year with a seed packet of annual flowers , to be honest I don’t know what most of them were , but they were pretty !

Warning, growing cut flowers is very addictive. I have gone from 2 small raised beds to 2 large ones and an allotment. I have also just bought a second greenhouse as my first was getting overcrowded.

I grow a mixture of perennials, biennials and annuals.

Many of the flowers I grow have already been mentioned. I will add phacelia(picture added) alstromeria, strawflower, gomphrena and sweet rocket. I sure there are many more but I will have to check my growing lists.

Remember to also grow foliage. I grow lemon balm, a variety of mints, rosemary, scented geraniums and a variety of grasses.

I beg to differ. They can be grown in window boxes, especially dwarf varieties 🤭 My mum has a few in containers that are doing just fine.