Plants for cut flowers

[allabout]

I would like to have more plants for cut flowers. I think that when you consider the cost of store-bought bouquets, the convience of having them from your own landscape, and you just can't get any fresher- sounds like a win/win situation. Also, I can use leaves from my landscape plants for foliage to fill in arrangements. By combining home-grown varieties with exotics from a flower shop, you can come up with unlimited possibilities!

Some of the most common flowers that I have found that make good cut flowers are rose, daisy, iris, gladiolus, sunflower, asiatic lily (favorite) and zinnia. And I love the spring-flowering bulbs, such as tulip and daffodil.

I was wondering what varieties of flowers do you plant? What sizes, shapes, and colors are some favorites and can anyone recommend something that will bloom for several seasons? And, do you do mostly annuals or perennials?

 

[Rosalind]

I'm doing some cut flowers this year. I prefer to do dried flowers, so I'm growing some red, pink and blue statice to go with the hydrangeas, roses and white yarrow we already have. About 4 times per year I get it into my head to do a bunch of flower arrangements around the house, and then I get bored and don't do it again for a while--so the dried arrangements are a better choice for me.

In winter I usually bring some forsythia branches indoors to force in time for March. March around here is fairly bleak: Lots of mud and slush, maybe a hint of a crocus here and there, but otherwise just ugly. We get a lot of ugly grey Easters, the leaves and flowers don't really get going till the second or third week of April.

 

[vfem]

I am looking forward to cutting flowers as well. Something I love during summer is tons of fresh arrangements. I have no interest in Roses, that's all my mother's thing, but I do have hydrangeas, Tulips, and dianthus ready to go. I'm excited to be introducing some huge Larkspur for some height in arrangements as well as a mix of poppies.

Nothing like bringing them in fresh... changes a mood on the baddest of day :coolsun

 

[beavis]

I've had good success with these:

Dahlias
Iris
Black-eyed Susan
Toadflax
Larkspur

 

[allabout]

Oh, those are wonderful suggestions!! Keep them coming!!

 

[me&thegals]

I really enjoy a huge variety of sunflowers, bachelor buttons, zinnias and lupines.

 

[vfem]

I also forgot to mention I'm putting in a mixed batch of sweet william... such a nice vase filler.

 

[Betsy]

One of my favorite cut flowers is Cosmos. It's hard to get long stems and they don't last overly long, but I still love them!

I've been known to make bouquets of anything I can cut that looks nice. Right before my Grandma C died I took her a bouquet that was mostly pretty weeds. It was April, and we didn't have much in bloom When she died we were able to bury her with a bouquet of half opened lilacs in her hands.

Oh, peonies are another one of my favorite cut flowers They last awhile and smell great! The only downside is that ants are necessary for peonies to bloom and often hitch a ride inside when you cut the flower.

 

[MontanaMama]

Bringing flowers indoors to enjoy is one of my favorite things in the world...sounds like we all are is this way!row
Starting as early in the spring as we can here in zone 3, we pick whatever we can find to make bouquets out of. Lilacs are the first from the garden, but we find many native wildflowers around the pastures as well.
Garden favorites are:
daisies
Yarrow (yellow and pink)
Larkspur
Lavender
Cosmos
Balloon Flower
Russian Sage (unique smell for indoors)
Bachelor Button
Roses :rose
Delphinium
Baby's Breath....I'd better stop...we could be here all day!

My husband LOVES to bring in arrangements from outdoors too :bouquet...he uses prairie grasses and things I would never think to put together. We came up with a fun challenge one growing season, where we vowed to have a fresh bouquet on our dining table every single day. You can read more about it here if the mood strikes you If you scroll down, that is me (the pic) in the box with the story.

I need to find more time to visit the flower section here...I love to hear and talk about flowers, my favorite thing Oh, and I love these smiley faces too...can you tell?

 

[kaycei]

I had success with dahlias last year in my containers. (Although, if your zone is too cold you have to store the bulbs over the winter, and they are late summer/fall flowers.)

This year I'm trying lisianthus and alstroemeria. (Lisianthus started sprouting and I haven't received the alstroemeria yet.)

Ditto the other comments about daffodils, tulips, irises and day lillies.