My Favorite Cutting Garden Flowers
Zinnia
She will give you loads of blooms!
WHY DO I LOVE THEM?
They are beautiful and speak of summer. Zinnia’s are one of the easiest cut flowers to grow and they come in many amazing colours. They have been a staple in gardens everywhere for years, and for good reason. Perfect for a beginner and a experienced grower. There is a Zinnia for everyone’s taste.
HOW TO GROW
Plant seedling or direct sow when soil has warmed up. For my first planting, I will plant seedlings when there is no longer a chance of frost. They do not like cold! So don’t store in a cooler. I will direct seed the next planting mid to end of July, to have blooms all summer and through too fall.
Plant 1 foot apart, they like to have airflow around them.
Full Sun
Support your plants so they grow straight and don’t topple over in the wind. I use a netting that has 6’ x 6' inch squares.
Bottom water regularly to avoid powdery mildew.
Choose tall varieties for cutting, such as the ones I prefer to grow listed here:
Benary’s Giant Series, Queeny Series, Oklahoma Series
TIP: You need to pinch your plants! What?
The secret to getting that perfect stem is to pinch the center stem when plants are 8 - 12 inches tall. Take sharp snips and then lop off the top 3-4 inches off the plant, right above a set of leaves.
WHY? This encourages branching. You will get loads of usable long straight blooms.
TIP: Cut your blooms!
Zinnia’s are known as a cut-and-come-again flower, this means the more you cut them, the more they give!
HOW TO HARVEST
Do the wiggle test! In order to tell if your zinnia is ready to be harvested, you grab the stem about 8 inches down from the flower head. Then gently wiggle the stem. If the flower head bends or sways, leave it for another day.
TIP: Use flower food for longer vase life 7-10 days. Zinnia’s will make your water cloudy after a few days, so trim and change your water often.
Zinnia’s can get easily bruised if over handled. Do not put them in a cold cooler, they may become discoloured.
Perfect in every bouquet is Double click - White
Cosmos
WHY DO I LOVE THEM?
They give your arrangements a touch of whimsy an airy feel that will fill them out perfectly. They grow like crazy and will produce lots of flowers. Cosmos are awesome cut-come-again flower that come in many colours that are doubles or singles.
HOW TO GROW
Plant seedling or direct sow when soil has warmed up. For my first planting, I will plant seedlings when there is no longer a chance of frost. I will direct seed the next planting mid to end of July, to have blooms all summer and through too fall.
Plant 12 - 18 inches apart, they can get big so don’t crowd them, they need good airflow.
Full Sun
Support your plants so they grow straight and don’t topple over in the wind. I use a netting that has 6’ x 6' inch squares, just like the zinnias.
Bottom water regularly.
My favorites variety is: Double Click Mix
TIP: You need to pinch your plants! Just like the zinnia’s.
The secret to getting that perfect stem is to pinch the center stem when plants are 8 - 12 inches tall. Take sharp snips and then lop off the top 3-4 inches off the plant, right above a set of leaves.
WHY? This encourages branching. You will get loads of usable long straight blooms. Trust me, one big stem is very hard to design with!
TIP: Cut your blooms! Cosmos is a cut-and-come-again flower, this means the more you cut them, the more they give!
HOW TO HARVEST
Harvest when the buds show colour, but haven’t opened up yet. The individual flowers don’t last particularly long, but each stem has 5 or more flowers that open up over the week.
TIP: Use flower food for longer vase life. They can be held in a cooler.
Snapdragons
Look at all those colours!
WHY DO I LOVE THEM?
Snapdragons come in lovely mixes of colours, including bi-colours. They are a cut-and-come-again flower, and are very frost tolerant. Snaps are an excellent spike flower, that every bouquet needs.
HOW TO GROW
Plant seedlings is the easiest way, direct sowing is not recommended since the seeds are smaller than Poppy seeds. I will secession plant plugs mid to end of July to have blooms all summer and into fall.
Plant 6 inches apart
Full Sun
Support your plants so they grow straight and don’t topple over in the wind. I use a netting that has 6’ x 6' inch squares, just like the zinnias and cosmos.
Bottom water regularly.
My favorites cutting varieties are: Rocket Mix, Potomac Series.
TIP: Pinch only half of your plants. This is will delay the one half by two to three weeks. It’s okay to not pinch the centre stem out, unlike the cosmos and zinnia’s. One strong stem is very useable in a bouquet, professional growers never pinch their stems because they want them really tall and strong. In a garden setting its useful to pinch because you usually don’t need as tall of a stems as a florist does. Just a note every time you cut the snapdragon the next stems generally get weaker, which is why we do a replanting. Most cut flowers need to be succession planted to have blooms from summer to fall.
You can transplant them once they have 3 sets of true leaves. They are quite cold tolerant, so you can plant them out before your last frost date.
Be sure to harden them off if you are growing them yourself, instead of buying plugs.
HOW TO HARVEST
Harvest when only a few flowers are opened. If they are pollinated by insects the flowers will fall off.
TIP: Use flower food for longer vase life. They can be held in a cooler.
Want your own cutting garden this summer?
You can grow loads of blooms to fill your house with flowers, and have extra to give a stunning bouquet to your friends!
Proudly say that you grew them!
Your seedling box will be filled with 6 of my favorite EASY TO GROW cut flowers, including the ones mentioned above.
