I love the idea of a cutting garden. I don't think I have enough space for one, though. If I had the room, I'd probably grow rows of zinnia.

WOW morpheuspa! Your garden is amazing! I have mostly trees, shrubs (some flowering), ornamental grasses, and plants with interesting foliage. I'm finally filling in the rest of my garden beds with blooming perennials and re-seeding annuals. Your garden reminds me of a botanic garden where I worked in the summer as teenager. Very inspiring :)

Looks like zinnia is at the top of both of your lists, so I'll have to find some of those. I'm looking forward to looking up some of the ones you list that I'm not familiar with. Thank you both!

As far as zinnia, while I like the Magellan (which are listed as a bit shorter, but tend to overgrow their genetic "maximum" by a mile in my gardens), the taller ones will tend to produce longer stems, of course--if perhaps slightly fewer and later blossoms. I use those as well.

I also use the Profusion zinnia (in that pot atop the pedestal by the staircase) for show. They do cut well, but the stems are only a few inches long. Still, they do look good in a bud vase.

White marigold (really a faint yellow, but the whites are a creamy off-white these days, they've gotten so good) and white zinnia are also favorites. They offset the hot tones of the other flowers beautifully and, used singly, make a gorgeous bouquet of their own.

And seriously, don't ignore the dahlia. Figaro and Harlequin are easy to grow from seed, and shorter varieties. You can also buy tubers of larger varieties (3' tall and upward) that will produce larger flowers through the season. This year, I'm using 48 Figaro.

They almost look hand-painted, with fluted, more delicate flowers, in a variety (and randomly-distributed) colors:

This is a Duet, not a Figaro, but same concept. They...don't usually bloom this well.

Dahlia, yes. Snapdragon seed in your soil mix, soon. Tall varieties for ease in cutting - Rocket, Madam Butterfly, the new Potomac.

Some of the marigolds are fine. However, you are bringing them indoors. Has it been mentioned? Not many people like the smell of marigolds. Be sure to purchase seeds for the unsented, tall types.

Annual asters. Spell check wants to call them "masters." Well, very nice "partners.." The sowing of seed for transplants can be on different dates to extend their season. You might even be able to direct-sow in the garden. Standy is a good choice for cutting.

And, statice makes a good filler for your bouquets, altho there's no reason for you not to grow annual baby's breath, so common in the flower shops. Statice handles well but keep something in mind, they seem to find the Wild West a little challenging. My understanding is that it is grown commercially in the coastal areas of Florida. The Mountain West is no Coastal Florida!

Steve

Yes, I have space in the vegetable garden. Sunflowers tops the list for my favorite cutting annual. I also have zinnia out there. Some years I try different things like China asters, bachelor buttons but the space is primarily for food growing so whatever extra I feel like planting I will but it's not a focus. Other than the sunflowers -- gotta have those!

I am downsizing my cutting garden, but am having trouble because I like growing so many of the flowers I grew when selling at the farmers market! All the ideas above are great. I grow everything from seed (except dahlias, although I have in the past - tubers are just easier for me!)

Zinnias, dahlias, sunflowers, cosmos, rudbeckias, and chinese asters are must-haves for me. I also like amaranths (love the cascading varieties), snaps, nigella, larkspur, annual phlox, strawflowers, Bells of Ireland, paper daisies, and Queen Anne's Lace. For fillers I like feverfew (several varieties), gomphrena, ageratum, scabiosa, statice. agastache, euphorbia. Herbs are nice too. I love dill in bouquets, and have used basil as well.

I tend to love the scent of marigolds, lol, and like to use the big tall ones, especially in fall-themed or yellow-orange bouquets.

You can add perennials to your cutting garden too. Echinacea and daisies are two that are easily started from seed. Also, mums, asters, many bulbs, hydrangeas, russian sage... I known you don't have a big space, but even consider adding one of these (and you can get smaller variety shrubs now) for returning blooms to add to your bouquets! Good luck and enjoy your flowers this season!

Morphe, that Duet is stunning! Might have to add that to my list!

:)
Dee

@eastautumn, you are gonna have so many choices!

Queen Anne's Lace volunteers along the fence line near the big veggie garden, perennial baby's breath near the railroad tracks, and feverfew in the yard at home. Whether they are available to you that way or not, they may be easy-to-grow choices. Bachelor buttons and larkspur are in vacant lots. There are "nicer" varieties of larkspur available for purchase and, of course, delphiniums are stunningly beautiful.

Gomphrena is useful, especially for small bouquets. The strawberry color really shows up. With some care in handling, several of these can be dried for winter arrangements - liatris and golden rod, included.

Some folks are quite sensitive to euphorbia and have rashes. Bells of Ireland are wonderful in appearance but a little hard to handle. I don't do much "handling" of arrangements. My technique is simply to have as many color choices (especially) to combine as possible, vary the height of individual flowers in combination, and be patient for the flowers to sort of "straighten themselves out" once they are in a vase. Yes, they are alive and may be sort of clumped together and, overnight, rearrange themselves.

Steve

how many hours of morning sun.. and what hours..

where are you.. big city name ...

many heavy production flowers are FULL SUN ... 8 hours min .. they need the sun to produce energy .. to perform ...

the lesser or weaker the sun .. the lesser the show ... so a few hours at dawn.. isnt going to do it ...

so tell us more about this.. so we can give good info ... many of those noted below.. are not going to perform with vigor with anything less than full sun ..

ken

btw: no real reason not to spread annual seeds anytime in spring.. it is not requisite to start them early.. so what if they bloom a few weeks later ...

Ken_Adrian (I think I recognize your name from the tree forum), I'm in Colorado in zone 5, where the sun is so bright I think 6 hours is considered "full sun." The bed I'm planning to turn into a cutting garden gets sun in the morning and bright shade in the afternoon. It's the mulched area that's just in front of the ornamental grass in the center of the photo below. The photo was taken facing south, standing between our garage (to the east/left of photo) and house (to the west/right of photo). The garage doesn't extend that far south, so the bed gets full sun until the sun moves so far west that our breakfast nook shades it.

There are a bunch of ugly utility boxes to the right of our side door, so I've dragged my feet planting that area wondering if I could find something to sort of cover up the ugly. I might plant a tall boxwood to screen the utility boxes a bit, and then fill in the rest of the bed with a variety of flowers for cutting. I've planted some snapdragon seeds inside that are so old I'm not sure if they'll come up, but figured it's worth a try. I saw some bare root dahlias at Lowe's and was tempted to get some, but they looked too dried out. I have mixed flower seeds to sow later in the spring, so will give them a try as well. I'm excited to have some more color this summer!

Zinnias and Marigolds.

These are a few from last year.

eastautumn, what direction does the garden face? I live in Arvada. Most of the flowers that are good for cutting want full sun, south or West facing yard. Otherwise you will get leggy plants. I suppose those could be good for cutting but when they flop the stems will be bent.

Gardenchloe has always made really beautiful flower arrangements from her yard and I think that some long spire-type flowers make wonderful accents such as penstemons. And they are very easy to grow. Let's see if she will post a picture of one of her arrangements to have a look!

I have two zinnia gardens, a North Garden and a South Garden. Both of those might appear to be cutting gardens (they are full of butterflies and bees), but in actuality both are zinnia breeder gardens, and I do cuttings only to harvest green seeds from selected "breeder" specimens. My breeder zinnias are uniquely different from commercial zinnia varieties. This one is an example of a breeder zinnia. You can click on the photo to see a larger version.

That zinnia flower form is not available commercially. Zinnias are capable of a lot of forms that are not in the marketplace. I find breeding zinnias as an amateur to be interesting and fun.

ZM

as your cutting garden evolves .. take note of what flowers.. brought into the house .. actually look good for what amount of time ...

some cut flowers last forever indoors ... those are the ones you want ... to keep in the garden .. over time ...

other wilt overnight.. and are better left outdoors.. where you can visit and enjoy them for a week....

i never heard the sun in brighter somewhere.. so 6 hours is considered enough ... but i never gardened in the mountains ... but that said.. the difference between 6 and 8 hours should nOT be a big deal.. unless those 6 hours were 3 at down.. and 3 at dusk ... that might make a difference ... but maybe not..

when it all boils down.. you just go for it.. and find out what works. in your micro climate.. of which sun is just one variable ...

ken

Yes, I had a cutting garden for the first time last year, after wanting one for year. It was ok last year but didn’t get enough sun so I moved it to a sunnier location this springs. I haven’t planted anything yet, except for larkspur, and poppies, which are starting to germinate. I will be planting dahlias, zinnias, cosmos, bachelors button and sunflowers, mignonette and phacelia. I did plant a separate daffodil bed for cutting and am really enjoying that. I’m still not sure what to plant after them though.

I agree that some tall spikey flowers are great addition to cut flower arrangements. Here are some I put together in the past.

Thanks Gardenchloe for indulging my request to show some of your flower arrangements. I've always liked how the tall penstemons look in your arrangements. Plus those are very easy to grow here in our area!

Yep. They are super easy to grow here. :)

I love the spikes in those gorgeous arrangements of GardenChloe's! I have a bed on the west side of our house with a bunch of Russian Sage, but have never thought to add tall spikes to flower arrangements. What a great idea.

I'm enjoying the rewards of finally having planted some bulbs last fall, though don't feel I have quite enough to cut and bring inside. Hopefully they'll divide and next year I'll have enough to spare for cutting.

Popmama, the bed faces east, but is at the southeast corner of a 1-story section of house, so I'm hoping it will get enough morning and early afternoon sun to keep things from getting too leggy. We're in Erie, so high elevation but not in the mountains.

I also have a berm just east of the bed in question hat gets a couple more hours of sun than that bed, and it's mostly empty right now. In spite of soaker hoses that water it regularly in the summer, I'm having a hard time getting things to survive. The tree we originally planted there died, as well as 3 shrubs I've tried, so it's looking pretty sad. I've gradually been adding xeric perennials to that bed hoping they'll take off. Some of them might be fun for cutting if I can get them to survive. I've got a coneflower and some agastache that have come back, and I'm thinking off adding some Russian Sage there.

Hi Eastautumn,

Wow, your yard is so lush. When I first saw the picture I didn't think you were in the Denver area but then you said Erie so I thought I'd chime in. We don't have a cutting garden but I do love cut flower arrangements.

These are June arrangements. The first one is chives and Golden Wings rose. The second is peony, chives and yellow broom. The third is purple salvia, peony and yellow broom. The forth is one of my red roses and yellow broom. The last is lilac and a lighter pink peony.

These are Oct. arrangements. They are mostly roses with some of the other fall flowers thrown in like aster and orange mango red hot pokers.

This year I am going to be attempting to grow some Polar Bear Zinnia from seed and David Phlox from seed. I also sowed some Blue Boy Bachelor's Buttons in the garden so will have to see if any of them come up. I bought Bachelor's Button plants last year and the rabbits promptly ate them so this year I'm trying them as free sown in the garden to see if some of them can make it by the bunnies.

We have several beds that went through 3 or 4 iterations of plants until we figured out what would survive there. Sometimes it takes trial and error to work it out. If you can come to our plant swap in May. It is a great place to find new plants that thrive in the area.