Hickory Hollow Nursery and Garden Center

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Creating Your Own Cut Flower Garden

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Isn’t it a fantastic concept to walk out into your garden and collect a bouquet of flowers to share with friends and family? I just love the idyllic thought of wandering through the gardens and gathering blooming bouquets to brighten and cheer up the home. It’s always fun to play the artist by picking and choosing varying textures, fragrances, and shades of color; grouping bright, bold flowers with spiking tall flowers and wispy fillers. Or a uniform cluster of the same blooms would suit just as nicely. Cutting gardens make an excellent addition to any landscape, as well as adding color and fragrance to any home. All flowers have different bloom times so it’s best to pay attention to which flowers are present for the Spring, Summer, and Fall growing seasons; gauranteeing you will always have something nice to choose to bring inside.

When configuring your garden, it’s important to remember that most cut flowers grow best in full sun with sufficient water supply and nutrient rich soil. If the soil is lacking in nutrients its ideal to add manure, compost, and/or a microbial rich mulch, such as Sweet Peet or Pine Fines. (Although, there are some flowers and plants that differ in their preference for soil type; thriving in dry, sandy soil.) Mulches add organic matter, help retain moisture, block weeds that compete with the plants growth habits, and help prevent the advent of disease.

Disease and Pest control may need to be considered, depending on the type of growing season, there are certain pests that can plague a garden such as caterpillars, slugs, rabbits, deer, fungus, mites, etc; these can be treated with organic sprays and options. There are organic fertilizers that are important to consider as well; root starters, bloom producers, and overall food feeders to ensure strong plants. Noting these components and how best to accommodate your garden will ensure the growth of healthy and vigorous plants with an abundant source for cut flowers.

Here are some great and low maintenance choices for the cutting garden, always giving you new and exciting options to choose from …

A woody perennial in the mint family with fragrant foliage and flowers. Possesses lavender- blue flowers with a long bloom season from July to October.
A low maintenance, herbaceous perennial that blooms July through August of deep purple feathery, spiked flowers that attract, hummingbirds, butterflies, and birds. Excellent compact plant for perennial border fronts or cutting gardens.
A herbaceous perennial with a long bloom season from July to September of bold white and yellow flowers on tall, sturdy stalks. The flowers attract butterflies and make an excellent long-lasting cut flower.
A deciduous shrub with a rounded habit and large clusters of long blooming Summer flowers lasting into early Fall. Dark-green serrated foliage that turns reddish-purple in the Fall. Prune immediately after flowering by cutting back flowering stems to a pair of healthy buds. Also makes a beautiful dried flower.
A herbaceous perennial native to North America with orange-red double flowers. Has a long, strong bloom season from early to late Summer. Easy to care for with only occasional watering once established or in extreme heat. For a neat appearance, remove old foliage before new leaves emerge. Fragrant flowers are excellent for cutting, attracting butterflies, and birds.
Tropical-looking plant with large leaves and flowers. They like plenty of heat and moist, fertile soil. Group plantings offer quite a dramatic presentation or in a container where they can fill in the space nicely. They also require monthly fertilizer that is relatively higher in phosphate for continual bloom. As flowers fade, deadhead to promote continued flowering.
Summer blooming perennial with compact and upright showy flowers that are noted for their fragrance, hummingbird attraction, and their Cut flower arrangements; nicely used in borders, containers, and mass planting for Cottage, Modern, Traditional, and Zen gardens.
Spring flowering perennials with lush foliage throughout the summer. Well drained soil. Do not respond well to transplanting. The plants may live longer than you do—some have been known to thrive for a 100 years. Beautiful when lining walkways or as a lovely low hedge. Makes superior cut flowers, lasting more than a week if cut in full bud.
A bulb that blooms May to June. Makes a good cut and dried flower. Deer, rabbit, and Black Walnut resistant. Plant bulbs 5-6” deep and 9-12” apart in fall. Leaves will wither and disappear from the garden shortly after bloom. Mature bulbs may be dug up in fall, divided and replanted to increase size of a planting.
Annual. Lasts throughout Summer until first frost. Colorful spiky flowers that give significance and color to any garden. Grows from a tuber which can be brought indoors and overwintered.
Annual ideal for patios, cottage gardens, and cut flower gardens. July through October Color
A hybrid tea rose in bush form that blooms repeatedly from late Spring to early Summer with a medium red double flower and a slight fragrance. Blooms on new wood; prune early to promote new growth