Cutting flowers is a passion for Marilyn Barlow, founder of Select Seeds & Plants in Union, CT. Which is why her company carries a wide variety of seeds and plants that are perfect for bouquets.
“We are carrying more certified organic flower seeds for gardeners and organic flower farmers that seek out heirloom and rare selections,” she explained. “We are also growing some certified organic cutting flower seeds on our farm and buy in from fellow organic growers.”
For those who tend to put things off, Select Seeds also offers plants, including those of Ammi majus (false Queen Anne’s Lace) ‘Graceland’, which is, according to Wayne Winterrowd in Annuals and Tender Plants for North American Gardens, “a superb cut flower, it has the curious capacity of remaining fresh out of water for several hours, even overnight, which makes it ideal for bridal bouquets.”
Zinnias are no-fail cut flowers, Barlow says, assuming you provide lots of room around the plants that promotes air circulation to discourage powdery mildew. Along with the usual Zinnias, Select Seeds & Plants also offers varieties like Benary’s Giant and ‘Queen Red Lime’. The Benary’s Giant Zinnia series are the “gold standard” in cutting zinnias, says Barlow, and they carry several colors of the 4-6″, fully double, dahlia-like blooms. The plants have a long vase life, hold up well in summer heat and rain, and are somewhat resistant to powdery mildew.
I’ve grown several varieties of Zinnias, even in my sun-challenged garden. I’ve grown ‘Queen Red Lime’ for several years, and I still think it is one of the most beautiful and unusual Zinnias available to gardeners. It’s still somewhat difficult to come by, but just as easy to grow as the others. Imagine a combination of dusty mauve gradually shading to chartreuse with a deep red center and you still won’t have the full picture. Each flower is just a bit different in the amount of shading and colors, and nearly all of the flowers are full doubles.
Another newcomer called ‘Zinderella Peach’ didn’t fare as well for me—most of the blossoms offering only single flower petals. This variety is grown for its tufted, domed center of closely-packed petals, the look reminiscent of a Scabiosa. After the fact, I learned that Zinnias that suffer transplant shock could revert back to singles. Johnny’s Selected Seeds recommends avoiding root disturbance when cultivating or transplanting Zinnias into the garden. If you decide to plant the seed where the plants will be growing, wait until the soil warms up, as the seeds require warmth to germinate.
Centaurea (AKA bachelor’s buttons or cornflowers) are easy direct sow annuals for cut flowers, and can be sown at least twice during late spring and early summer for long-term blooms. Flowers should be cut when they’re about half open so they’ll last longer in bouquets. This European wildflower came by its common name from its presence in corn and other grain fields. Farmers saw it as a weed, and it’s been eradicated throughout the farm fields in parts of Europe.
Sunflowers make great cut flowers, and can be planted every couple of weeks from the time the soil warms up through late summer. Harvest sunflowers for bouquets when petal color just begins to show, or as flowers are about to open. Johnny’s Selected Seeds offers a sunflower comparison chart with photos to help gardeners or commercial growers determine which varieties will work best for their purpose.
If you prefer not to have pollen dropping onto tables, grow the pollenless varieties, which are hybridized to produce no pollen and last longer in a vase. They’re still attractive to pollinators. Sunflower Selections breeds hybrid sunflowers and offers seed from their Woodland, California location. Most of their sunflower varieties are pollen free, which means they cannot pollinate themselves. They can be pollinated by bees and other insects that carry pollen from other sunflowers, which results in seeds that, if planted, will not look like the original hybrid variety you planted.
One of the absolute easiest flowers to grow from seed is Cosmos, which Barlow says will last three days in a vase—not overly long—but a welcome bouquet flower, and so easy to grow. Cosmos are native to Mexico and thrive on warm weather. Two species are responsible for most of the Cosmos we know and grow. Cosmos bipinnatus is the one breeders have fiddled with the most, creating a respectable variety of petal shapes and colors. The species sulphureus is more compact and has flowers that reside in the yellow and red range.
Another Cosmos has entered the fray, and it has something completely different to offer. Cosmos atrosanguineus, or chocolate cosmos, has flowers that are scented like chocolate. I had the pleasure of finding this plant with my nose in a sunny public garden. Its flowers, a dark red, were appropriately growing at nose height. According to Winterrowd, chocolate Cosmos is tuberous-rooted like a Dahlia, and can be overwintered in a cool but frost-free location.
Cut flowers are catching on in a big way. Barlow says, “Our top-selling cut flower varieties are ’Spring Sunshine’ sweet peas, celosia ‘Cramer’s Burgundy’, zinnia ‘Queen Red Lime’ and ‘Cupcakes’, sweet scabious ‘Black Knight’, Cosmos ‘Xanthous’, sunflower ‘Mexican Torch’, Zinnia ‘Benary’s Giant Mix’ cornflower ‘Emperor William’, sunflower ‘Pan’, and larkspur ‘Misty Lavender’”.
Annual flowers aren’t the only bouquet-worthy components in the garden. Lots of perennials make great bouquets, even plants that grow in shade. For extreme bouquet persistence, Heuchera leaves have no peers, and make great “collars” around a bouquet of blooms that can last more than a week.
Epimedium flowers also work well, especially if you cut them after the top few flowers on the stem have opened. One variety that is easy to find and offers up lots of flowers is Epimedium x versicolor ‘Sulphureum’, whose primrose- yellow flowers bloom in mid to late spring. Although most Epimediums take a couple of years to reach a mature size, plants are long-lived and very sturdy.
Alchemilla mollis (Lady’s Mantle) happens to be another shade or part sun-loving perennial that is great in a vase. Whether you use its blue-green leaves or its chartreuse flowers, lady’s mantle is one of those plants that can look after itself, creating an attractive ground cover in the shady zones of your garden. It will self sow, which offers more reason to cut the flowers before they go to seed.
There is still time to sow seed of some annuals to use as cut flowers, but don’t overlook perennial plants that can be found at your local garden center.
Helpful Books:
Annuals and Tender Plants for North American Gardens by Wayne Winterrowd
Flowers Are Almost Forever: The Care and Handling of Cut Flowers by Libbey Oliver
Park’s Success with Seeds by Ann Reilly
Specialty Cut Flowers (second edition) by Allan M. Armitage and Judy M. Laushman
Seed Sources:
Burpee one of the oldest seed companies offers a wide selection of seeds and plants.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds has a good selection of seeds, including hard-to-find bouquet fillers.
Renee’s Garden Seeds has more poppies than Dorothy and her friends outside of Oz.
Select Seeds offers both seeds and plants of unusual and heirloom flowers
Swallowtail Garden one of the best selections of Calendulas and Zinnias