>> Dutch iris--this year these flowered mid-June.

You should be able to force dutch iris to bloom earlier. You could try covering a bed of them with cold frames or you could even grow them in pots that you leave outside to chill and then bring them inside to warm up and initiate earlier flowering.

I believe that you will find Ranunculus to be quite challenging to grow in your climate. Read my posting on the thread I link to below. I'm not saying you shouldn't try them at all just be forewarned about the difficulties and don't spend a lot of money buying lots of Ranunculus tubers until you have done some trials and figured out a method of growing them that works for you. I'm going to try again (for the third time) this fall. I'm going to attempt fall planting with protection this time. I've tried spring planting twice but it seems like they don't get properly established before they try to bloom and then it starts getting hot and they all give up and go dormant.

Forsythia branches are pretty easy to force into early bloom.

Muscari make good cut flowers but they do have rather short stems. You may be able to get them to stretch in part shade or deeper bulb plantings. I had one clump of muscari that came up through creeping phlox and it had noticeably longer stems.

When it comes to Narcissus I like Cheerfulness, Yellow Cheerfulness and the Tazetta division. These all have several small buds on a single stem so they open over a longer period of time than regular single bud Daffodils.

Have you tried any Alliums? They make nice cut flowers and usually are starting to bloom toward the end of Daffodil season.

- Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: How hard are Ranunculus to grow?

I am trying the same as you.

I have wallflowers starting in pots for next spring and I will be buying some Leucojum Aestivum in the fall (it's supposed to last long in the vase).

For late spring I am starting canterbury bells and columbines.

Thanks for the input. I really appreciate the link and reading the other discussion. I had searched ranunculus on the cutting forum, but hadn't thought to search the bulb forum..doh!

I am planning on trying a small batch inside and see how it goes. Maybe I can get them started inside and move them out early spring...ah, sounds like a recipe for disaster, but the only way for me to know for sure. :D But it seems the main issue is they need to develop a good root system in a frost free environment before they start flowering--hence giving them the longer days til harvest, but ruling out growing them in areas where it heats up fast. This year we had some days in the 90s in early June. WE used to live about 15 minutes away from the Carlsbad Flower Fields. Figures I would want to grow them as cut flowers only after we move away! The whole area was saturated with flower growers. Now I see I should have been growing and shipping flowers to the Midwest. :P I am starting to look into the feasibility of growing late into fall and early in spring with greenhouses here. It may just make the investment worth it but the heating cost is unpredictable. A couple of places have indicated they would buy local flowers if available then. When selling to the farmer's market, it wasn't much of an issue since the markets only run June-Oct. But I find I much prefer selling directly to a store. Less per bouquet, but less time and more predictable.

I've been debating forcing a few bulbs this fall. Last fall I tried some with a partner in her (unreliable) refrigerator and there were a lot of problems (understatement). Most of the bulbs ended up rotting. I'd like to try again in a situation with better control over the conditions but it was so bad last year, I am still recouperating. I know once fall hits I won't be able to resist though. I go through my own private tulip mania.

I grew Purple Sensation and Allium multibulbosum--a white variety about the same size as Purple Sensation but blooms a bit later. I thought these were great, but they did not sell well. Perhaps they were a bit overwhelming for most consumers on their own and I did not have other flowers to complement them well. Hmmm, some forced spring branches might go with them. I have planted a scattering of shrubs, so maybe I'll have a few things to try out. Also I have about 35 peonies, but all new last fall and they sure are still tiny little things. I still want to plant more though, but I have run out of space.

I will give muscari a try. Do have a lot, but yes they were short. ANd thanks for the daffodil suggestions. I am going through catalogs and feel as though my eyes are bulging out from all the intense colors and I am definitely gripped with indecision!

magz--Will you be keeping the wallflowers inside all winter? That'd be great if they can flower in a bright window or with some additional light. I'll look into that.
I also thought I'd try leucojum, but I think they bloom in June for me here.

I just harvested the last of my Canterbury bells which were sowed last summer and put in the field last fall. They were great cut flowers! The odd thing that happened with some of them though was they developed a very thick central stalk, and then the side shoots were too wiry and short for cutting. This did not happen to all of them . I want to try the Champion series which supposedly has thick side shoots. I am looking forward to trying other campanula types next year as they were just stunning and a single stalk really sold the rest of the bouquet.

Oh, I also wonder about Painted Tongue
Salpiglossis sinuata as a cut flower for early spring flowering.
Thanks all!

No, I won't be keeping the wallflowers inside. I will mulch them and see what happens. It looks like I am in the coldest zone of their range and some winters are milder than others. I am trying stocks too.

My snapdragons from last year came back this year and are blooming so that bodes well.

I had so many starts in the kitchen this year that I am really trying to establish self-sowing/perennial cutting flowers as much as possible.

I heard that about the central stalk on the Canterbury Bells. If it happens with mine I may try cutting some early on to see how that works out.

My painted tongue all failed this year, I probably won't try them again.

Oh, I have also started a stand of blue False Indigo. That is an early bloomer and defo will survive our winters. I have found pink, yellow and white versions of it as well but haven't bought the seeds.

Agrostemma might come in early enough for you to get in before June as well.