Need advice!

[bobbin]

Hi all.
I've taken on an extra half allotment plot to grow cutting flowers.
It has four raised beds. One I want to fill with bulbs. tulips daffs etc and later maybe lilies en masse.
I would like to grow a mix of reasonably tall flowers with a view to cutting for arrangements/gifts and shows. Apart from Cosmos gypsophilia.
and Dahlias cornflowers and nigella . Do you have any suggestions.
Preferably quite substantial stemmed blooms. I'd love to hear if any one does this and your experiences please. I would rather avoid oranges and yellows too. Flowers must have a reasonable vase life.

[nickdub]

You could try a few shrubs Philadelphus aka "mock orange" for example, they take a bit longer to get established, but are very little work thereafter.

[veggiechicken]

There's a good link in https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ide_95221.html

[bario1]

Gladioli? I grew some for the first time this year and they’re stunning!

[rary]

chrysanthemums are very good for cutting and showing they are one of the longest lasting cut flower, and you can grow a wide choice from sprays to single decorative, and of course earlies to lates, to me the best perfumed ones are Oriental lilies and sweet peas, the problem with sweet peas is that to get long stems you need a fare bit of time to work on them

[rary]

and as bario said gladioli cut them at the right time you get a long vase life with them, as you can remove the dead flowers as the ones higher up the stem opens

[Scarlet]

Chrysanths - you can have them flowering early, mid and late season.
You can buy them in quite cheaply as plugs and bring on in the green house.

[Scarlet]

Also sunflowers, echinops, globe thistle, zinnias, cosmos, rudbeckia

[Scarlet]

Aliums are also worth considering but can be a bit pricey.

[veggiechicken]

I've seen bunches of alliums for sale but they smell "oniony". That puts me off having them indoors.

[Scarlet]

I dont notice it....seems better then wet rugby boots

[bobbin]

Thank you for the suggestions all. (More please). I'm not a fan of chrysanthemum I'm afraid.
I've been leafing through Sarah Ravens catalogue. I now see myself floating about the lottie in an old
coat with arms full of long stemmed blooms ha ha.
Zinnias are a definite this year though.

[Scarlet]

I know both Chrysanthemums and Dahlias have a reputation as an old ladies choice but you can’t ignore the ease of growing/vase life compared to something that is difficult to grow - zinnias, I love them but they can get powdery mildew, echinacea are slow to grow.
The varieties are huge too, the button head types are a great filler flower etc especially in green. It’s worth spreading your chances of getting something to pick weekly.
Dahlias this year haven’t done that well due to the lack of water.

[rary]

Just shows how some areas are so different from others my dahlias have been very good this year though mine are mostly bedding varieties but do have some large exhibition types growing,have posted photos of them on flower of the day

[Scarlet]

I have had some great blooms Rary....but due to lack of water most dahlias only grew to half their height and several dahlias suffered with red spider mite due to the weather. This has never happened to me before - the dahlia growers in Romsey also suffered the same problems...and Monty Don had similar