This is nothing more satisfying or heart cheering than having a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers in the house and growing yourself is easier and more cost-effective than you might think. They can be grown throughout the garden, in your shrubberies, borders and even in containers and if you have the space you can dedicate a section of your garden solely for cut flowers. You can plan it so you have something to cut in every season including the winter.
Most cut flowers enjoy a sunny position in the garden, in fertile, weed-free soil. Avoid windy spots as you will be forever staking the tall flowers. Adding a general purpose fertiliser like GROWMORE helps to get tall healthy stems of flowers. Also be mindful in dry summers as additional watering will be needed to ensure good stem length.
To get the best results from your cut flowers, always cut flowers in the morning when stems are full of water. Avoid picking in hot and warm conditions, place the stems into a bucket of water immediately. Pick flowers just as they are starting to show colour. Allow rose and dahlia buds to develop more before cutting as they may not develop properly if picked with too tight a bud. Once collected your cut flowers will need to be conditioned which helps prolong their life indoors.
Firstly, strip all the leaves off the bottom two-thirds of the stem - foliage below the water level will rot. Re-cut all the stems with a scissors or a secateurs to ensure a clean cut . Place in a bucket of clean cold water in a cool place for at least 3 hours and ideally overnight. Plants that may droop such as hellebores, poppies and roses can be sealed by dipping the tip of the stem into hot water for 30 seconds and then immediately into cold.
There is such a range of cut flowers to choose from both annual and perennial, you can grow from seed or bulb. Here are a few we would highly recommend:
Sweet Pea White Supreme, Night and Day and Painted Lady
Cosmos Purity
Antirrhinum Royal Bride
All the above are annuals and can be grown from seed.
Some bulbs that are also great cut flowers include:
Dahlia Babette, Dahlia Blue Bell, Dahlia Deep Impact, Dahlia Apache, Dahlia Love Life
Gladioli Black Velvet, Gladioli Jo Jo, Gladioli Primadonna
Liatris spicata
Crocosmia Lucifer
Hyacinths
Narcissus
Muscari
Bulbs and tubers such as Dahlias and Gladioli will need to be protected from frost in order to bring them from year to year.
Perennials such as Honesty (lunaria annua) Delphiniums, Echinacea, Lupins, Gypsophila, Agapanthus and Paeonias also make amazing cut flowers, however, if you grow them from seed keep in mind that it will be the second year before they will flower.
For year-round colour plant shrubs such as Laurus noblis (Bay Leaf), Euonymus Emerald and Gold, Skimmia for flower and berry, Phormiums for their fabulous strappy leaves and don’t forget the plain old ivy which is so versatile for use in your flower arrangements. Start planting your cut flower garden today and before you know you will never buy flowers again.
Most cut flowers enjoy a sunny position in the garden, in fertile, weed-free soil. Avoid windy spots as you will be forever staking the tall flowers. Adding a general purpose fertiliser like GROWMORE helps to get tall healthy stems of flowers. Also be mindful in dry summers as additional watering will be needed to ensure good stem length.
To get the best results from your cut flowers, always cut flowers in the morning when stems are full of water. Avoid picking in hot and warm conditions, place the stems into a bucket of water immediately. Pick flowers just as they are starting to show colour. Allow rose and dahlia buds to develop more before cutting as they may not develop properly if picked with too tight a bud. Once collected your cut flowers will need to be conditioned which helps prolong their life indoors.
Firstly, strip all the leaves off the bottom two-thirds of the stem - foliage below the water level will rot. Re-cut all the stems with a scissors or a secateurs to ensure a clean cut . Place in a bucket of clean cold water in a cool place for at least 3 hours and ideally overnight. Plants that may droop such as hellebores, poppies and roses can be sealed by dipping the tip of the stem into hot water for 30 seconds and then immediately into cold.
There is such a range of cut flowers to choose from both annual and perennial, you can grow from seed or bulb. Here are a few we would highly recommend:
Some bulbs that are also great cut flowers include:
For year-round colour plant shrubs such as Laurus noblis (Bay Leaf), Euonymus Emerald and Gold, Skimmia for flower and berry, Phormiums for their fabulous strappy leaves and don’t forget the plain old ivy which is so versatile for use in your flower arrangements. Start planting your cut flower garden today and before you know you will never buy flowers again.
Come in and see us for any advice you might need.
See you soon
Marianne (Caplice), General Manager at Powerscourt Garden Pavilion 
