Today is the day to begin planning your first cut-flower garden.
Cut flowers are easy to grow and so rewarding. If you’ve struggled with vegetables, you may find cut flowers grow more readily for you.
They can often handle poorer soil and some will grow from seed to bloom in less than two months.
Growing cut-and-come-again flowers will provide you with endless bouquets from summer to fall.
In this post, I’ll walk you through the steps to plan your cut-flower garden.
Step One: Choose your space
Flowers grow best in full sun–that’s 6-8 hours of sunlight per day. The cooler your climate, the more sun you will want on your plants. Conversely, if you live in a hot climate, you may consider providing shade for your plants from the hot afternoon sun.
Decide how big your flower garden will be. A 4×8 foot bed will yield plenty of flowers for your home, but if you want to have flowers to share, or just more variety, you may want a larger space.
This post on choosing the right location for your garden can help you decide where to grow if you want to know more.
Step Two: Decide what to grow
Cut-and-come-again flowers are exactly that: you cut them once and then come again and cut more. These are the best types of flowers to grow in a small space.
Think about your color palette as well. When I was planning my cut-flower garden this year, I pinned several bouquets I loved and chose colors from those bouquets to use in my garden.
Most flowers come in a wide range of colors, so even if you only decide to grow one type of flower, you can have a variety of colors to be able to change up your bouquets.
I explain more about my top 10 cut flowers for beginners in this post.
If you have space, include a variety of flower sizes and shapes. Spiky flowers, daisy-like flowers, ruffly flowers, tiny flowers, disc flowers…
These all can make your bouquet more interesting and feel more like a florist arrangement.
Some of my favorite cut-and-come-again flowers include:
- dahlias
- zinnias
- cosmos
- snapdragons
- yarrow
- celosia
- rudbeckia
- marigold
- gomphrena
Sunflowers are also great cut flowers, especially if you get seeds for pollen-free and branching sunflowers. But typically, they are not cut-and-come again.
When buying seeds or started plants, make sure that the plants will grow tall when mature, ideally 36″ or taller.
Also, consider growing herbs to use for greenery and scent in your bouquet if you have the space. I love tucking sage into bouquets for that beautiful leaf color.
You’ll also be able to use the herbs in the kitchen!
- basil
- mint
- sage
- dill
- parsley
- oregano
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you buy through my links, I could earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. I only discuss products that I love and think you’ll love, too. I’m glad you’re here and thanks for reading!
Step Three: Make a planting plan
Now that you’ve chosen your site and decided what flowers to grow, let’s talk about what materials you need and make a planting plan.
(I’ve linked my favorite garden tools below when it applies, in case you’re curious about what I use in my own garden.)
You will need these items for garden maintenance:
- hose (or at least a watering can and close access to water)
- small spade or shovel
- stakes and twine (or some kind of plant support like tomato cages)
- snips or pruners
It will also be nice to have gardening gloves, rake, and a sprinkler.
Seeds, tubers, and plant starts
Of course you’ll also need seeds, tubers, or started plants!
Growing from seed gives you the most versatility and the healthiest plants. It’s also the cheapest way to get lots of plants for your garden.
All the plants I listed in Step Two can be grown from seed except for dahlias, which are best grown from tubers.
I would also recommend buying herbs as started plants except for dill, which grows best from seed.
You can start plants in small pots or seed starting trays if you want, but it is not absolutely necessary for a cut-flower garden.
However if you are really wanting to get into seed starting, I recommend using equipment from Bootstrap Farmer.
To know when to plant, find your last frost date. Most flowers should be sown after your last frost date once air temperatures are consistently 50°F (10°C) or higher.
For more detailed information about this, read my post about knowing when it is safe to plant.
The back of your seed packets will tell you when to plant the seeds in the ground.
For me, my last frost date is April 25. I start checking my 10-day forecast near that date and (try my best to!) wait until nighttime temps are high 40’s/low 50’s. Usually that’s a week into May.
Some seeds will be safe to plant right at your last frost date or even before. Just check your seed packet to be sure.
Choose a date to begin planting seeds and mark it on your calendar! Make sure to have all the seeds, tubers, and garden tools you need before that date.
Where to Find Good Seeds
Here are a few places I would recommend purchasing seeds from online. You can also check your local garden center for seeds.
- High Mowing Organic Seeds
- Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
- Botanical Interests
- Pinetree Garden Seeds
- Hoss Tools
- Park Seed
Step Four: Prep and plant your cut-flower garden
Once the soil has warmed enough to work (basically not soggy or frozen), you can begin preparing your garden bed.
Both raised beds and in-ground beds are good options for cut-flowers. If you’re growing in the ground, just put a simple border around the bed to remind others (and yourself) not to step inside and crush your seedlings!
I line my in-ground beds with bricks to mark them off and sometimes, I’ll put stakes and twine around them too to keep kids from running through.
Prep the Soil
First, prepare the soil in your garden beds by raking it smooth. Sprinkle an inch or two of good compost on top and rake it in.
If you plan to add slow-release fertilizer, you can do so now as well.
Don’t over do it on the fertilizer, though, because not all the flowers will want rich soil!
Plant Your Garden
Once you’ve bought your seeds and/or plants, organize them by their mature height.
Place the tallest plants at the north end of your garden bed and the shortest plants at the south end. If you are planting against a wall or tall fence, put your tallest plants close to the fence and shortest plants farther away at the front of the bed.
Then, when you’re ready, plant your seeds according to packet instructions. Plant any seedlings you have ready.
Water everything in thoroughly.
If you have heavy pest pressure, cover your seeds and seedlings with a lightweight frost fabric or fine mesh to keep bugs and bunnies out.
Keep seeds well watered until they sprout.
Most flowers (especially dahlias, zinnias, and snapdragons) will also benefit from being staked or supported in some way. If you have a small bed, you can corral the plants by placing stakes on the outside of your bed and tying twine around the stakes to hold the flowers upright and in.
Other options include tomato cages or good ol’ stake and twine.
Step Five: Cut flowers and arrange bouquets
Now you get to the fun part: the harvest! Once you start seeing blooms, begin cutting the flowers.
This was hard for me to do at first because not cutting flowers has been ingrained into me since I was a child.
“Don’t touch the flowers!”
But the whole point of growing a cut-flower garden is to cut the flowers and enjoy them for however long they last in the vase.
In fact, now I cut whatever blooms I want and bring them in because I enjoy seeing them up close more so than just out in the landscape.
When they are indoors, I can really study every detail of each bloom and admire their beauty.
Flower arranging is definitely a skill, and if you want to see how bad some of my first arrangements were, read this post!
One great thing about growing cut-and-come again flowers is that the more you pick, the more flowers will grow.
A flower that goes to seed signals the plant that it has fulfilled its duty in reproducing and the plant will begin to shut down. It will stop producing flowers and die.
Cutting your flowers as often as possible will tell the plant to keep going and keep growing.
Then you will have even more flowers. Yay!
Tips for an Amazing Cut-Flower Garden
These are the keys to getting an amazing cut-flower garden in your first year.
- Water longer, less often–meaning keep the water on for a longer period of time to make sure the ground is saturated up to an inch deep, but water less frequently, like just every 3 days. This will encourage your plants to grow roots more deeply.
- Automate your watering. I used a sprinkler set to a timer that went off early in the morning every 3 days for about 45 minutes. The more things you can automate and not worry about, the more enjoyable your gardening experience will be. Or if you prefer a drip irrigation system, Garden in Minutes makes it easy to set up a full drip system right away.
- Cut long stems on cut-and-come-again flowers. Zinnias, dahlias, most celosia, cosmos, and herbs like basil benefit from being cut deeply. They branch off wherever you make a cut, so cutting stems lower on the plant will encourage low branching, which makes for a sturdier plant.
- Boost plants once a month with a liquid fertilizer for blooms. Typically these fertilizers have a higher middle number, or higher phosphorus, and low nitrogen. If you don’t want to use liquid, sprinkle a slow-release, granular fertilizer when you first plant flowers, and halfway into your growing season.
Take Time to Enjoy Your Garden
Last, but not least, enjoy your garden. Sit and admire it. Take photos and videos.
Notice the pollinators and wildlife enjoying your garden along with you.
Make yourself slow down, stop working, and smell the flowers.
This little habit will recharge you, relax you, and give you the energy to care for your plants when it is hot, buggy, and weedy. After all, the whole point of growing a garden is to admire it!