Growing cut flowers has never been more popular. Home-grown flowers are cheap, colourful and long-lasting, and involve no ‘flower miles’.
The key to growing cut flowers is to make the most of the seasons. With a little careful planning, you can produce a huge and varied range of blooms to enjoy all year round.
Save money by growing sowing seeds – discover 10 cut flowers to grow from seed.
Here’s a selection of plants that you can use in arrangements throughout the year – grow them in your borders, or in a dedicated cut flower garden.
Early spring
Early spring: apple blossom, bergenia, camellia, daphne, garrya, hazel catkins, hellebore (pictured), Lonicera x purpusii, primrose, polyanthus, viburnum.
Late spring
Late spring: aquilegia, Campanula persicifolia, euphorbia, garrya, honesty, lilac, lily-of-the-valley, peony (pictured), philadelphus, stocks, sweet rocket, sweet William, tulips and wallflower.
Early summer
Early summer: acanthus, agapanthus, alstroemeria (pictured), astilbe, astrantia, aquilegia, bupleurum, centaurea, gypsophila, helenium, lavender, Salvia x sylvestris ‘Mainacht’, scabious, sweet rocket, sweet William.
Late summer
Late summer: agapanthus, alstroemeria, astrantia, ceanothus, cosmos, dahlia, echinacea, eryngium, Japanese anemone, lavender, penstemon, phlox, red hot poker, scabious, stachys, thalictrum, tree peony, Verbena bonariensis, zinnias.
Early autumn
Early autumn: chysanthemum, dahlia (pictured), Japanese anemone, Michaelmas daisy, penstemon, red hot poker, rosemary, rudbeckia, hesperantha, Verbena bonariensis.
Late autumn
Late autumn: chrysanthemum (pictured), hypericum, ornamental grasses, Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’, hesperantha.
Winter
Winter: acacia, bergenia, daphne (pictured), hazel catkins, garrya, hellebore, Lonicera x purpusii, ornamental grasses, Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’, sarcococca, viburnum.
When to pick cut flowers
Pick flowers in the morning if possible, when their stems are full of water and they are not under stress from the heat of the day. Otherwise, wait until the evening.
