If you like to cut flowers from your garden, or would like to start, you will have a hard time finding plants that grow tall enough for the purpose. Starting from seed is your best bet for many of the best bouquets. While the number of plants mentioned adds up to a list that’s nowhere near inclusive, it consists of more than a dozen suggestions for cuts plus variety ideas and sowing information for six easy to grow plants.
When it comes to choosing annuals, shoppers want color, not potential. Annuals that bloom when they reach six to 12 inches are a lot more colorful in a pot than those that don’t flower until they’re three feet tall. It’s why, if you want long-stemmed flowers for cutting, you’ll have to start most of them from seed. There are occasional exceptions, of course.
According to Dan Woldhuis, Jr. of Sunrise Greenhouse in Grant Park, IL, there is little demand from their customers for long-stemmed annual flowers. “We grow some tall snapdragons (the Rocket series), ‘State Fair’ zinnias, and a tall Ageratum,” he said. “Other than that we offer more bedding-type annuals.”
Trying New Varieties
Carolyn Faught, owner of Omena Cut Flowers in Suttons Bay, MI starts many of her offerings from seed, especially since she likes to try several new varieties each year. She’s already started seed of frosted explosion grass, sun ball, Celosia, foxglove, cosmos, sunflowers and zinnias. She learned that frosted explosion grass (Panicum elegans) makes nice filler for bouquets. Sun ball (Craspedia), is a bright yellow one-inch ball on a stem that grows from two to three feet tall, lasts a long time in a vase and even works as a dried flower.
Faught is also trying Celosia ‘Chief Persimmon’, its name a great description for its big, bright cockscomb flowers. All of them, plus some foxglove, were started around 10 weeks before her last frost date, as they take the longest to develop a strong root system and reach the maturity needed to flower.
At the end of March Faught will start zinnias, which she will also direct seed in June, after the soil warms up. “Zinnias really need warmth and will rot in cold wet soil, so it’s best to wait until early June for direct seeding zinnias,” she said.
Cosmos will get a head start when Faught sows them in pots indoors on April 10, and she’ll start a batch of sunflowers on April 15. All three—Cosmos, sunflowers and Zinnia—are easy to grow by direct seeding. By sowing early and then again in June, Faught will be assured she will have a long season of these customer favorites.
