A
home full of fresh-cut flowers is a welcoming, warm place. When those flowers
come from your very own garden it is even more rewarding. It is a joy each time
you look at the blooms t in your own home or at your work place to know they
came from your own labor of love. A hand-cut bouquet from your own garden is
always the perfect gift. When you grow a cutting garden, you’ll have plenty to
gather for yourself and to share.
The
cutting garden is simply a bed of flowers and foliage plants which the gardener
has grown specifically to use in flower arrangements. Often situated at the
backs of vegetable beds, along the sides of houses, and skirting fence lines,
the cutting garden is a practical alternative to the age-old gardener dilemma
of not wanting to cut your most beautiful blooms from your carefully landscaped
gardens.
When
designing a cutting garden, there is no need to worry about the overall looks
of the growing beds as you will be using it for continual materials for your
flower arrangements. Pick a site with full sun and good drainage. Cutting
gardens can be started from seed, much as you would your vegetable garden, or
you can use divisions from your perennial plants. You may also purchase an
assortment of potted annuals to add to the mix.
Your
cutting garden can be a place for experimenting with new plants and colors that
you would not have otherwise chosen in your landscaped beds. A few tips to make
yours a success include planting in wide rows for easy harvesting, deadheading
regularly to promote flower (nor seed) production, and choosing a variety of
early, mid, and late season flowers.
When
making selections of plants for a cutting garden, the plant choices are almost
endless. You may want to stick to those annuals and perennials that are
long-stemmed, sturdy, and do well once severed from their host plant. Here is a
list of suggested cutting garden flowers and foliage plants suitable for
growing the greater Washington, DC
metropolitan area:
- Artemisia
- Asters
- Black-Eyed Susan
- Celosia/Cockscomb
- Cosmos
- Dianthus
- Echinacea/Coneflowers
- Gladiolus
- Goldenrod
- Lavender
- Liatris
- Lilies
- Lisianthus
- Mums
- Peony
- Sages/Salvias
- Shasta Daisy
- Sunflower
- Verbena bonariensis
- Yarrow
- Zinnia
Of
course, you can always supplement your cutting garden arrangements with
flowers, grasses, branches, and foliage cut from other plants in your gardens,
but having a growing bed dedicated just for cutting purposes encourages you to
use them more and to not worry about the old "to cut or not" debate.
All who are involved with You Can Grow That! (YCGT!) believe that plants and gardening
enhance our quality of life. We want people to be successful with what
they grow and to become more aware of the many gifts that horticulture
brings. Find out more at http://www.youcangrowthat.com/.
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