cut flowers?

[chrissie the chippy]

Hi

I've got a border running down the side of my allotment which is quite big, it runs the entier length and is about 80cm wide...

I was hoping to section it off into 3 sections, one for and edible border with edible flowers, mini corn, beetroot, lettuce etc

another section for different herbs

and another section to keep for cut flowers....

...problem is I know absolutely nothing about what are the best types to go for!! I'd like some that will look after themselves while I tend to my veg, which look lovely and that we will be able to have lots of gorgeous cut flowers from

Also any info on types that will come back year after year would be nice... are tulips worth while planting?

Thank you (sorry, I know pretty much nothing on the subject! Can you tell )

[la cebolla grande]

We also have flowers in the lottie. A couple of good ideas (perhaps!) that we have benefitted from is a) a sack of bog-standard yellow daffs. Just at the end of winter it is wonderful to have some fresh cut, cheery yellow daffs in the house.

and b) the other thing that has worked really well for us is Dutch Irises. You can buy big packets (25 bulbs, then buy one get one free - so 50 bulbs for £1.99 from Woolies) and they are a wonderful range of colours.

Neither of these really take any looking after!

Whatever you chose, don't plant too many of one sort - as they all flower in a short time, and you can only cut so many - its better to have a range of different flowers offering cutting throughout the year.

A third option we are trying this year, but can't tell how successful yet!, is those big drumstick Alliums - huge great purple things. We got 15 bulbs free with our order from J Parkers bulbs back in the autumn. They'll make stunning cut flowers if they come through.

Good luck!!

L C G

[scarey55]

Great thread Chrissie, I've been thinking about this myself so I look forward to seeing the replies.

Good to see you back on here too btw

[Nicos]

I have planted 1,000 daffs - (3 years ago) and they are spectacular.
( well not at the moment!)
I bought the big sacks and planted them in clumps of 30 around the edge of the lottie and 'garden' area
Different varieties and planted them all at different depths the stagger them even more.

I grow Rudbeckia at home- and they are easy to grow

Tulips need to be on fairly well drained soil or they rot- so that depends on your soil type

The guy next to me grows gladioli

Flowers really are a must on any lottie- good for you!

[Birdie Wife]

Hi Chrissy, I love tulips and would happily plant them all over the place but I've found that some varieties like to be replanted every couple of years, or they stop flowering, plus on my exposed site they often need staking against high wids or they flop all over the place, plus as cut flowers you need to either seal the ends with boiling water as soon as you cut them, or put them immediately into water the second you cut them, else they flop about all over the place.

Can't advise much I'm afraid, as my own flower garden is a disaster area... but what about lilies? There are lots of different types/heights/colours and being bulbs they will generally keep coming every year (yes I know tulips grow from bulbs too but tulips just like to be different!). I would grow dahlias too if I could, but it's too cold up here and they would need digging up and storing over winter, and they hate damp soil. What's your plot like?

Have you seen Sarah Raven's book "The Cutting Garden" and "Grow Your Own Cut Flowers"? I notice both are on special offer at Amazon!

[Nicos]

As well as encouraging the honey bees onto your plot, the other reason ( plus flowers are pretty) to grow on the lottie for cutting was that I don't have to cut the flowers in my garden anymore ( well not as many now).
Result....my garden is more colourful

[moggssue]

Chrissie - I was having exactly the same thought! Looking for flowers to encourage bees and to cut for home .... watching this thread with interest. Thank you for it, and welcome back

[Flummery]

I'm making a cut flower border this year. I'm starting off with annuals because I know I have some ground elder at one end and with annuals it'll get another good digging at the end of the flowering season. I'm going to grow (got the seed already!)
Cosmos polidor - bright oranges and reds
Sunflower - a short variety
Cornflower - polka dot mixed
Larkspur mixed
Rudbekia greeneyes
Ammi majus - a sort of 'tame' Queen Anne's Lace
Clarkia apple blossom
Scabiosa ebony & Ivory
Monarch of the Veldt - jaffa ice
Lupin Blue Bonnet
Bells of Ireland - molucella laevis

Hardy and half hardy annuals - except for the F1 hybrid sunflower I shall try to gather seed where I can.

For perennials I love bears' britches - Acanthus mollis, and Agapanthus (I think I've heard this called african lily - or did I dream it?) as well as some of those already mentioned.

Good luck - should be gorgeous Chrissie.

[Nicos]

Just remembered- I also grow nastutiums on the lottie- and they look really bright and cheerful!

[moggssue]

Do you just scatter the seed around where you want it to grow, or treat it 'gently' like veg seeds?

[Nicos]

You asking me???

Yep- just throw a handful here and there and scuffle up the soil ...and stand back!!!

My kind of gardening!

I made the mistake 3 yrs ago of sowing climbing nasturtiums and when I came back from a 2 wk holiday, they'd grown across the plot by about 8 feet and mixed in with the dwarf ones.
No idea what seeds I collected- and left the rest to the mice- each year I get a huge display- whether I want them or not! ( LOVE them)
Flowers taste nice and peppery in salads too

[Flummery]

I'm raising mine in modules. Seed's expensive - don't want any misses. I've never had much success with directly sown annuals.

[jeannine]

Flummery, I'd love to see a photo of your cutting garden when it's in bloom, sounds like you're growing some real corkers! I'll def try a few of your recommendations this year. I have to go to great lengths to persuade my OH to let me grow flowers on our allotment, but the fact that they attract useful pollinators seems to help to sway him!!!

One perennial I would strongly recommend for cut flowers is Verbena bonariensis. It flowers for months on end, bees love it, and it always cheers up a posy (or a border). The seeds are quite expensive but it's really easy to grow and will probably self-seed (but in a good way). It gets up to 4 foot tall so plant it at the back or the far edge of a bed. You can buy young plants from Sarah Raven, but it's not hard to germinate.

[chrissie the chippy]

oooh, yes a photo would be great!

some great ideas! I think I'll definately have to steer clear of the tulips, my plot seems to retain rain water a bit too well I got a pack of bulbs from b&q reduced, but I've given them to my mum to plant in her garden, I think I'll go with the suggestions on here I'll have to help my mum crop her tulips, I really like them. I like the idea of plants that will attract bees and butterflys

I'm hoping to sort out the paddling pool situation at the plot, so hopefully that wont be a problem. It is a nice open site (can be a bit windy!) and I'm in southampton, so it can be nice and warm......

My neighbour gave me some cut flowers a few years ago from off his allotment and they were the most gorgeous flowers I've ever seen, really pretty flowers and an array of colours.... must ask him what they were.

Nice to be back on here again, pestering away for advice We had a few problems with the old plot but we have a new one now, can't wait to get started on it!

Thank you for all the ideas, I'm really looking forward to seeing the flower bed grow!

[pigletwillie]

Like Flum I module sow or plant perennials where possible.

Any Dahlias
Chrysanthemums
Rudbeckia
Helenium
Dwarf sunflowers
Verbena bonariensis
Flag iris
Michealmas daisy
Any other daisy
Lillies
Gladioli
Annual Lavateria
Cosmos
Cornflower
Spring flowering bulbs

Many of our cutting flowers are planted in otherwise unproductive areas such as the front of the plot, alongside the tunnels, clumps planted by the compost bins, at the end of paths and under fruit trees.

I am to give Kazzi several bunches a week from February through to the end of October.