How to Grow Fresh Flowers to Cut and Enjoy in your Home

If you are a passionate gardener you probably find ways to spend regular time in your garden on most days. You fit it into your routine from early spring to late fall because it is an essential part of maintaining equilibrium in a busy lifestyle, and you look forward to those moments with eager anticipation. Like most of us, you want to extend those moments in any way possible, and one of the best ways is to grow flowers that are easy to cut and maintain their beauty long afterwards. Bringing an ultra-fresh bouquet of your favorite blossoms into the house with you gives you the opportunity to maintain the aura of your recreational time, as well as share the bounty of the garden with everyone in the house.

While most annuals and perennials will do fairly well for a few days after being cut, there are varieties of both that seem to be made for the purpose of displaying beauty long after they are gathered into a bouquet. Here are common garden flowers that will deliver warmth, aroma, and a sense of well-being for 5 to 7 days, or longer after you’ve snipped them and placed them in a vase full of water. The best flowers for cutting and bringing indoors, or offering to a friend, tend to be those with sturdy, long stems that will keep their shape, allowing the free flow of water to reach the blooms. And here’s the wonderful truth – the more stems you cut, the more energy the flower puts into producing more glorious blooms. Quality perennials and annuals truly are gifts that keep on giving.

Perennials: These yearly friends offer the best bets for cutting. Anemone, Yarrow, Cone Flower, Daisy, Roses, Zinnias, Cosmos, Sunflowers, Cerinthe, Violet, Phlox, Bishop’s Lace, Carnation, Lily, Bell Flower, Coreopsis, and Iris.

Annuals: Marigold, Snap Dragon, Bachelor’s Button, Lark’s Spur, Pink Dianthus, Salvia, Gladiolus, Sweet Pea, Zinnias, and whatever grabs your attention that season.

When you go out to the garden with plans to bring in some cut blooms, take a bucket or vase filled with tepid water. The warmth will keep the vascular lines open within the plant that is placed in warm water. When you bring the bucket full of flowers into the house, consider cutting off a ¼ to ½ inch each day, to remove dry ends and give the flowers the best chance of taking in water. You might also want to add a small teaspoon of plant food to the water to keep your blooms beautiful for as long as possible. When blooms are inside, be concerned only about enjoying their loveliness, not about how long they will last. Flowers are transitory joys – but there are more waiting for you outside, with fresh promises of deep satisfaction.

Related posts:

1. How to Prune Flowers for Bigger, Bolder Blooms!
2. Choosing the Right Mix of Annuals and Perennials
3. Seasonal Flowers
4. Mixing Flowers – Colorful Flower Garden Design
5. How to Deadhead Flowers