The Cutting Garden: Growing and Arranging Garden Flowers

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You may want to grow for scent —there is no sweeter smell than that of a freshy-cut flower that you have grown yourself! Even the most fragrant flowers start to lose their scent once cut. Freshness is key to a highly fragrant bouquet, and growing your own is the best way to ensure they’re as fresh as possible. I love to watch the busy eco system at work – so many butterflies, bees, ladybirds and naturally healthy plants. Is there anything better?

With spring’s energy new and fresh, it’s an excellent time to plant, spring clean your garden and take inspiration from visiting gardens If growing flowers for business or for an event, you should make sure that you have a wide range of contrasting flower forms and some fillers that compliment larger single feature blooms, such as Achillea or Gypsophila. Cosmos bipinnatus There’s a huge and ever-growing selection of these late-summer stars. Deadhead them in the vase to encourage buds to open For anyone starting their own cutting garden there are lots of books. Some of my favourites are The Cut Flower Patch By Louise Curley, In Bloom by Clare Nolan and The Flower Garden by Clare Foster and Sabina Ruber. Georgia Miles, The Sussex Flower School With Autumn upon us and the nights drawing in, now is the perfect time to plan ahead for next year’s cutting garden, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned gardener. Though it can be a little disheartening that most of this year’s summer flowers have bloomed, by looking through seed catalogues – the perfect way to unwind after a busy day, there is plenty to look forward to.Some of my favourites for foliage include Hornbeam, Eucalyptus and Rosa glauca. For flowering branches in the Spring and early Summer I rely on Spiraea argutea, Viburnum opulus and Philadelphus. For berried branches in the Autumn, Snowberry and Hypericum varieties are mainstays. Knowing where to start can be the first hurdle. Let us point you in the right direction if you’re starting from scratch. With this guide, we hope you will be encouraged to don your boots and get in the garden, making the first step towards creating your very own flower patch. Cosmos Purity, Cosmos Cupcake Blush, Larkspur, Foxgloves, Falling in Love Poppies, Twilight sweet peas, and Cup and Saucer mixed Canterbury Bells. Growing your own cut flowers is a wonderful journey, whether it is for personal use or part of your business. Having a source of fresh flowers available for special occasions or to keep for yourself is useful as much as it is a treat for the soul, and a rewarding part of a labour of love! Benefits of home-grown flowers It is important to choose the best location and taking account of certain factors will help to decide where to start your flower patch.

You can plant spring-flowering bulbs between September and December and summer-flowering bulbs between March and mid-May. Take time to carefully choose your bulbs from our seasonal range in advance of those planting seasons and they will be shipped to you at the correct planting time. Other jobs for the Autumn include planting Spring bulbs. We tend to wait till November before planting our tulips which go into trenches about 25cm deep. It’s time too for sowing hardy annuals and lifting your favourite dahlias after a frost for propagation in early Spring.’ Rosebie Morton, The Real Flower Company The larkspur was pretty too and I cut masses as the weeks went on. It was really great for adding splashes of colour – purple, lilac and pink. I did try keeping on top of removing all the seed heads as soon as they appeared to prolong the flowering. Papaver nudicaule Iceland poppies come in a range of lovely mixed colours Best plants to grow for cut flowers

Best plants for great foliage

The Cutting Garden’s closure was met with dismay on social media. Jane Salter wrote on Facebook: “Devastated. Been a client for a very long time. Hoping everyone is getting the support they need and you know every client is sending their love.” Soon the cosmos plants had grown tall and full of pretty flowers. Cosmos Purity is the perfect white cottage garden flower. It keeps going and going and the flowers last well when cut. I think my favourite, though, were the Cupcake Blush variety. The bees certainly thought so and I just loved their pretty shape and subtle pale colours. I cannot believe just how much these beautiful plants have given – and still continue to give! Karen Williams posted: “My stylist messaged me on Monday. So gutted, been going there over 20 years.”Gail Lord said: “It must have been a difficult decision. I will miss Cutting Garden - it’s been a pleasure visiting your salon for many years.” I would definitely include Winchester Cathedral on my list of roses to grow for cutting. It’s a lovely clear white rose; sweetly scented, it produces lots of rosette-like blooms with pink tinged buds opening to pure white and it flowers all summer.