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How Many Cut Flower Varieties Should I Grow

Writer's picture: Suzanne DuftySuzanne Dufty

You have been dreaming of your own cut flower patch, and now you are ready to make your dream a reality.

You start putting pen to paper, you design your space, and now you need to decide exactly what you are going to grow in it.

This process can easily become overwhelming!  how many different types and colours of flowers should you grow and how much of each variety.

Calendula
Calendula

Which varieties to grow really depends on what you are growing them for, and ultimately what you intend to do with your crops when you harvest them.

Do you intend to make and sell bouquets at markets, are you growing for your own wedding or even to provide the florals for several weddings or perhaps you are simply growing for yourself.


There are many, different types of cut flower grower, and the way that each individual chooses to grow and sell their flowers can vary in so many ways.

Those of you that would like to sell your flowers as market bouquets or from a farm stand, may need to make up vast quantities of bunches in one go, meaning both cutting flowers and bouquet building need to be fast and efficient. This can often mean using bouquet recipes that are repeated over and over again, requiring entire rows of the same type of flower.


Some of you may like to sell wholesale flowers, and will likely need to grow row upon row of the most popular flowers and colours.


My growing and selling practices just do not fit within these categories. I only ever make bouquets to order, every bouquet is hand tied and is unique in design. The flowers I arrange, and sell are purchased as gifts, for special occasions, so my customers are looking for something extra special.

My designs are inspired by a country garden, this requires the flowers to have a wild and just gathered look, and this of course affects which types of flowers I like to have available to cut in my garden.


Flowers from the cutting garden in early August
Flowers from the cutting garden in early August

So this is why every grower, should grow the flowers that they personally like to design with, as I have learnt from experience that having a type of flower in your garden that you simply do not like to cut is a wasted space.

Because I do not create set bouquet recipes I need to ensure that customers are always receiving bouquets of a consistent size and value, I follow the rule of stem counting, focal, filler, and green, to make sure that each bouquet is easily comparable in both size and cost.

 

This process actually begins at the point of ordering my seed and planting my garden, it is at this point that I want to ensure a good mix of flower shapes, and a good selection of colours that will work well together in different combinations.


I am going to be listing some popular flower suggestions, these varieties that are commonly grown as annuals in the UK, although some of them can survive a mild winter.

As cut flowers the plants are much stronger if sown every year.


I like to place different flowers into different categories, and then include 3 or more flowers from within those categories in the cutting garden.


Anethum Graveolens
Anethum Graveolens

 1. Umbelifers, think of cow parsley, Fennel and Ami and Orlaya. I have grown lots of different umbellifers over the years and this year my top picks are Anethum Graveolens 'Mariska'(Florists Dill), Didiscus (Blue Lace Flower) a sweetly scented cut flower with large, lacy umbels of pale blue flowers on strong stems and perfect as a filler for flower arrangements.and Daucus (Wild Carrot)and I especially like to grow both the white and purple.


Salvia Viridis
Salvia Viridis

2. Line Flowers, such as Gladiolous, Foxgloves and Delphiniums, which are all beautiful, but sticking with varieties grown from seed every year my top picks are Matthiola incana (Stock), and for the first time this year along with my other varieties I will be growing the quartet variety, which when pinched will produce more than one flower per plant. Antirrhinum (Snapdragon) and I do not hide the fact that my favorite variety is the Chantilly, and particularly Chantilly Bronze. Delphinium consolida (Larkspur) I just love this, unfortunately so do the slugs, so a tip is to absolutely sow way more than you need, a wide choice of colours are available but my favorites are ‘misty lavender’ and ‘little boy blue’.



Helianthus Ruby Eclipse
Helianthus Ruby Eclipse

3. Round, including Calendula, Marigolds, and Sunflowers, which are all varieties often grown in my garden. My top picks for 2025 are Zinnia, and you are just spoilt for choice here, one I would like to try is Zinderella, but my pick this year is Queen Lime Orange. Cosmos I love ‘Apricota’ for arrangements as it just seems to go with everything and for bouquets I love the doubles, this year I am growing ‘Double Click Cranberry’ and ‘Double Bon Bon Pink Bi Colour’. And this next choice is something I cut and cut and cut, Rudbeckia (Black eyed Susan), I grow Goldilocks in the cottage garden, but my favorites are ‘Cherry Brandy’ and my top pick for 2025 is ‘Saharah’



Tanacetum parthenium
Tanacetum parthenium

4. Sprays/Fillers, Feverfew, Dianthus and Marjoram are all varieties you will find in my garden, but my top picks for 2025 are Limonium sinuatum (Statice) with a vase life hard to beet this is a must have for retail bouquets and dried flower projects. I have grown a real variety of colours over the years, and for drying I recommend blues and purples. My top pick this year is the pastel mixed colours. My favorite filler is Phlox, available in so many desirable colours, and beautifully fragrant too. I have grown so many of the different colours available and am trying moody blues for the first time this year but this is not really the best choice for cut flowers as its ever so slightly shorter. Phlox is a wonderful addition to any garden and honestly it is hard to pick a colour, so for that reason I am going to be growing a couple of mixed colours including the Tapestry mix from Chilterns seed, and my pick for 2025 is ‘Art Shades’ from Plants of Distinction. Lavatera (Annual Mallow) to be honest this flower can probably work as a main round focal flower too, and early in the year that is often the role it plays. I grew this for the first time in 2023, I grew the colour ‘Silver Cup’ Which is very pink, it was so incredibly useful as a cut flower, flowering nice and early on strong and long stems. In 2024 I added ‘Dwarf pink Blush’ to the garden, and was not disappointed.

 


Poppy Seed Pods
Poppy Seed Pods

5. For me a finishing touch and final flourish, not impressive enough to be focal, but for me complete the garden style I am looking to create, I consider things like cornflowers, Strawflowers and crown daisy perfect for this, and my top picks for 2025 are Nigella (Love in a Mist) I have grown so many colours of Nigella, one of my favorite, is ‘Albion Black pod’ which is a white flower with a beautiful dark seed pod perfect for dried flower projects. In 2023 I grew ‘Delft Blue’ for a wedding and it was lovely, so I am looking forward to growing that one again. Scabiosa atropurpurea (Pin Cushion Flower) A bit fiddly to cut, but I just love the wirey stems allowing the flowers to almost float. I have grown many of the colours and plenty of mixes, this year I am growing ‘Salmon Queen’ and, ‘Summer fruits’, which is my go to mix, and new to me this season I have ordered Oxford Blue, which is my top pick despite the fact I am yet to grow it. Phacelia Tanacetifol definitely the pollinators favorite, and ideal as a green manure and for me one of the easiest cut flowers to grow. It will need some form of support, and make sure you succession plant it to have it available to you all summer long.

 

I have a passion for floral design, so for me I love growing all of those dainty fiddly, and to those large-scale growers often less profitable flowers to create my designs.

Because I do not need to fill my beds with metres of the same type of flower, I can grow more varieties in less space, and yes this entails more work, more seed sowing, and more nurturing, but for me absolutely more reward.

So even in my tiny cutting garden, I will have space for my favorite and a few other things too.


There are so many flowers you could grow, and the only way to establish which ones you like to use in bouquets, is to grow them and find out.


Happy seed shopping


Suzanne


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