An easier way to do Cut Flowers?
- 8 hours ago
- 4 min read
With every sunny day that passes, and many a rainy one inbetween, the buds are fattening and life is surging into the garden. It's an electric time. You can almost feel the rush of sap, the crescendo of bird song starting to build and the energy is life enhancing and thrilling. But if we're honest it can also feel like a bit of a scramble. What were, just a few weeks ago slowly forming lists and fireside garden plans, suddenly feel piqued with urgency - there's mulch to add, last Roses to prune and Dahlias to pot up, and all that before even thinking about the many hundreds of seeds you want to sow. Having trawled with expectation through the seed catalogues there are now so many that I wonder if I'll ever manage to plant them all. And so it occurred to me, as it often does, to look for a simpler way - a way to make my garden work with me, rather than enslaving myself to it.
And top of the list for this, has to be a simpler cut flower patch. Having a dedicated place to harvest armfuls of flowers, without de-nuding the pots or ruffling the borders too much is something I really cherish and would be loathe to give up. But traditionally, creating one does demand time. Next week my workshops will teach people exactly how to do this, to plan, to sow and to grow their own patch of joy but I hope it will also teach them a way to set themselves up, not just for this year but for many years of cut flowers to come.
In addition to the stalwart annuals we'll certainly think about easy going perennials and bulbs as well, but perhaps more importantly we'll look at how to reduce the number of the annuals you actually ever need to sow more than once. Because after your first year, instead of clearing away the mess and debris of the previous year's patch to make a blank canvas, you can let it stand all winter and come spring time you'll be able to sift through it for this years treasure which have quite happily sown itself without you lifting a finger.
Look among the old stems and chances are there are plenty of seedlings which have overwintered into decent sized little plants - things like Ammi majus and Nigella as well as Orlaya and sometimes I've even had Sweetpeas. So there's no point in growing all this lot from seed and cramming it onto busy windowsills to germinate when mother nature has, as always, done it best. Once found, after a bit of weeding ,you can jig things around with a bit of an 'edit' and hey presto you already have a patch which is well on it's way.
Orlaya grandiflora actually seems to prefer it this way. I've found it tricky to get going in a seed tray and have come to the conclusion it likes to be left alone, germinating with super fresh seed in situ and having the cold of winter to get itself rooted and settled.
Not everything you have will be likely to make it through the winter, especially if you live somewhere that gets super cold, or worse, very wet and cold. But you can always cover your bases by saving some of the slightly more tender annuals which will have self-sown in late summer and autumn: I scooped up several Salvia viridis seedlings and popped them into pots last November where they have been lying in wait until now.
The point is, with some of the work already done there is time for you to think about adding a few new things each year, perhaps a new Phlox or Larkspur you've had your eye on (I'm trying the annual Rudbeckia 'Cherry Brandy' which I hope will look wonderful among a bunch of late summer Dahlias.). It also frees up a little more room on your windowsill or greenhouse, where no doubt space is already at a premium, all the while reducing the garden overwhelm.
Of course allowing this type of self-seeding not only has you covered for next year but the whole of this coming season itself. All you need to do is make sure you leave a few of these early flowering plants to go to seed (so don't pick the entire lot) and you'll get a second and third generation of plants in succession, supplying you with and abundance of flowers throughout the summer. Add in a row of direct sown Cornflowers and a some Dahlia tubers and you will have a Cut Flower Garden to be proud of, blooming for months on end with a minimum of fuss.
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