Easy cut flowers from seed?

[SimpleSimon]

Any suggestions?

Ive been dedicating more of my plot to flowers the last couple of years and it’s been great. But I don’t really have much experience. I’ve grown sweet peas, dahlias, cosmos and a few other things that have been good for cutting. And lots of sunflowers as I like them. Did about 50 last year and it looked great.

This year I’m gonna grow a fair bit so looking
for suggestions of a good mix of plants to grow for cutting.

thanks
simon

[Babru]

I grew a few things last year for cutting, and the best vase combination I found was simple, straightforward orange marigolds and blue cornflowers - stunning together. I'd some fancy varieties such as cornflower black ball, marigold buff beauty etc, but I found I didn't particularly like them. I'll keep on with the cosmos and dahlias obviously, but the blue and orange combination was amazing.

[quanglewangle]

We did a plot devoted to cut flowers for a while because we spend quite a bit on flowers for the house. I gave up because it was too much work - it may just be me but flowers seem harder to weed and keep clean than veg.
Having said that +1 for Babru 's orange marigolds and blue cornflowers. Also think about Anemones and rudbeckia

[SimpleSimon]

Actually cornflowers are something I’ve been meaning to grow so that’s a good suggestion!

[Mr Bones]

In addition to what's already been suggested Mrs B finds Zinnias easy and reliable. If you want super easy (though they're not from seed) Gladioli never fail for us. Bought three packs of bulbs from the Pound Shop (£1 a pack funnily enough), leave them in the ground each year and they just keep multiplying.

[Nicos]

English marigolds and nasturtiums are so easy to grow and look great in small vases. The bonus is that they self seed and tend to need little care ( unless the nasturtiums get blackfly)

[annie8]

Handy finding this thread. I was just about to post about this as have extended a bed and was thinking of giving it over to cut flowers but wasn’t sure what to plant. Looking through my seeds I found cosmos, cornflowers, rudbeckia, dahlia and sunflowers. Maybe eryngium too? I grow them in my front garden but never had success growing from seed. Think they would look good in a vase. Sounds like I’m in the right space then based on replies.

[Babru]

I've gone off eryngium. Self seeded everywhere, and a difficult tap root if you're trying to take it out.

[annie8]

Really mine hasn’t self seeded at all -wouldn’t mind if it did that at the front. Had big blue flower last year and it was stunning -very sharp though.

[annie8]

Having no joy getting the rudbekia to germinate, but got some cosmos purity and bright lights on the go and just sowed some different sunflowers in the greenhouse. I have some dahlia tubers that I am bringing back to life so they will go into the bed too.

[Sweet savory]

Having no joy getting the rudbekia to germinate

They do need light to germinate so could that be the problem?
My Achilles heel is sunflowers that everyone finds easy peasy.
What about something for scent? I am growing tall nicotiana this year and they seem fairly easy but fiddly. No idea how they last in the vase though.

[annie8]

Might resow and leave the rudbekia on the surface to get light. I do have some nicotiana in the front garden that has self seeded in last few years so couldn’t try them in a vase. Mostly I bring sweet peas into the house for scent - love their smell.

[annie8]

One of the sunflower types I potted have germinated . They just arrived a few weeks ago in a gardening mag. Maybe fresh seed is important for them Sweet Savory?

[annie8]

So, have now got seedlings from couple of cosmos types, the red sunflowers (none of the others have germinated) and some zinnias that came free in a mag and germinated really quickly. The resowed rudbekia on the surface have started to do something at last. One of my dahlias is starting to sprout. So not too bad. No sign of any germination from the echinacea, osteospurmum or silene.

[annie8]

Quick update. Planted out some of the seedlings into the cut flower bed yesterday. Two types of sunflower, two types of cosmos, zinnia, and one of the dahlias. Just a couple of dahlias to go out. Am leaving them in the cold frame a bit longer as they are sprouting but not not that big yet. Think they are more likely to get eaten by slugs etc if they are at the tender sprouting stage. Quite excited to see what comes. Hopefully attract lots of bees into all my fruit and veg beside it. I managed to get a very small number of rudbekia and echinacea to germinate. Still tiny though. Will put them somewhere in the garden if they survive. Nothing from the osteospurmum and silene. Did the last option of putting them in the fridge for a week and back into the prop to see if the change of temp will spit them into germination!