Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots. She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden. She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.
If you’ve been reading this blog or following me on Instagram for awhile, you might have noticed that #ihavethisthingwithflowers. I am obsessed. To feed my obsession I need a garden filled with cut flowers that will hold up well in my various arrangements.
Here are my favourite plants to keep me in floral arrangements from June to September. Pick at least three from each section to plant in your garden so that you can have cut flowers all season long too.
Disclaimer: I am writing from USDA Hardiness zone 2-3, so all plants listed will grow in this location. The good news is that if you live almost anywhere else, you should be able to grow these flowers. The bad news is your success with these flowers can vary depending on your area’s growing and soil conditions.
A cut flower garden should have a nice mix of annuals and perennials to help ensure that there will be something to cut all season. Annual flowers will not come back again the following year they are planted, but generally provide blooms all season long. Perennials will come back every year once they are planted, but usually have a much shorter bloom time.
Annual flowers are cheaper to purchase, but you have to purchase them every year. Perennial flowers are more expensive to purchase, but you usually only have to purchase them once.
A good portion of annual flowers meant for cutting will also need to be seed started anywhere from 4-10 weeks before you plant them outdoors. I go into more detail about the easiest annual flowers for beginners to grow here, and provide detailed growing information in my cut flower e-book.
With that out of the way, let’s get on to my favourite cut flowers!
Daisies are beautiful, simple, and look good on their own or with any colour flower. They can have a spreading habit, so be ready to divide them up and pass them on to a friend or neighbour.
More commonly known as Baby’s breath. They make a beautiful filler in any arrangement.
Larger varieties like the Mary Helen or Crackerjack varieties look better in floral arrangements.
Even thought some sedums flower only in one part of the year, or even not at all, I love using them all year round for their interesting shapes and textures.
These grape hyacinths are the ones most commonly grown in zone 3. I love them in a small teacup arrangement. Warmer zones can grow many more and larger varieties of hyacinths.
You’ll most commonly see irises in purple, but yellow (like these) or even blue are an unexpected choice.
Lilacs are actually a shrub, and not a perennial. However, I just had to include them, as spring wouldn’t be the same without a large bouquet of them sitting on my kitchen table.
Lily of the Valley is fragrant and beautiful, but it spreads if left unchecked. Worried about planting something you might regret later? Check out my list of 28 perennials you’ll regret planting.
I am obsessed with peonies! We have 8 bushes of them and I can’t bear to give any of them away. . . although I probably should. Did you know that when you get a new peony plant it won’t bloom for 3 years!?!? Learn what you need to know about taking care of peonies here.
To me, tulips are the ultimate floral expression of spring. I loved our simple yellow and red ones growing up.
Asiatic lilies are so easy to grow and come in an endless variety of colours.
Makes a gorgeous filler plant and are great for attracting bees to your garden.
Blanketflowers are a great choice on the prairies, as they’re a native plant and don’t require much water or care once established. Want to grow more native plants? Here’s some of my favourites!
Another gorgeous, easy to grow native plant. The varieties you buy in stores are likely naturalized ones, so to get a truly native plant, you’ll need to order from a specialty seed shop like Prairie Originals.
Shopping for a bellflower plant? Make sure to get the clustered variety and not the regular bellflower. The regular kind is more weed than flower and can easily take over your flower bed in a few years.
Coral bells can tolerate a bit of shade and make a stunning filler.
So many dahlias, so little time. Dahlias come in practically every colour of the rainbow, and the sizes can range from 1 inch to the size of a dinner plate. They’re a must have for the garden, although the bulbs must be dug out every fall and replanted in the spring. I’ve included everything you need to know about removing and storing dahlia tubers here.
An old fashioned favourite that’s easy to grow. I have found in my garden that they seem to need 5 years to really establish, although you’ll get blooms every year. Make sure you stake them, because they will be the first thing to break in a summer storm!
Glads are a staple of late summer floral arrangements. In colder climates you’ll need to dig the bulbs out every fall and replant in the winter.
Be careful of what you purchase in zone 2 or zone 3! Often the hydrangeas in the big box store will not be hardy enough for these climates. Check on the tag that the plant is hardy to at least -30 degrees celsius.
Some of my favourite coneflowers are echinacea and rudbeckia. They don’t only have to be yellow either! You can find many lovely shades of pinks and reds too.
There are many type of coneflowers and all of them are good candidates for your next cut flower arrangement. Check for black eyed susan’s in ditches along the road.
Asters come in both perennial and annual varieties. This year I’m experimenting with the much larger annual varieties. The ones pictured here would work better as a filler flower.
Sunflowers come in so many different heights, and even in shades or orange, red, plum, brown, and almost white. Plant at least one every spring for the children in your life.
See coneflower above.
Chinese lanterns can be invasive, depending on your soil. I have a problem with mine running wild, so this year I’m trying to grow Pumpkin On A Stick as an annual alternative.
You know it’s fall when the pots of mums appear at the big box stores.
See dahlia above in the summer section.
Golden rod grows wild where I live. Hurray for free cut flowers!!
Strawflower is one of my new favourite flowers. Light as air and super pretty! They last forever in and out of the vase and are very easy to collect seeds from.
Zinnas hold a special place in my heart and I go a little crazy each year planting them. So worth it once they bloom!
I’ve taken all the guesswork out of creating a cut flower garden with my e-book, Cut Flowers Made Simple. It’s the perfect way for beginner and intermediate gardeners to start their own cut flower garden with or without seed starting, growing annual flowers.
Click on the picture to find out more or get your copy.
Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots. She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden. She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.
Growing a cut flower garden, whether it’s a small plot in your backyard or for profit as part of a flower farm is extremely rewarding. While many perennial flowers make beautiful cut flowers, the true heart of a cut flower garden is annual flowers grown from seed.
Starting flowers from seed can seem intimidating, but it’s quite easy once you get the hang of it. I’ve compiled a list with pictures of my favourite annual cut flowers that are easy to grow, plus a list of those which are harder for beginners. It doesn’t mean you can’t grow the harder ones, they’re just a bit more challenging!
The days to maturity of each annual flower will vary. The seed packet of each flower variety will give a range of how long the flower needs to grow. Most cut flowers that I grow have a range of 70-100 days to maturity.
One confusing thing about the term “days to maturity” is that it measures the time it takes from the seed being in the ground to the first bloom that opens. This means that you might have 70 days until the first bloom, but it might be more like 80 or 85 days until the flower really gets going.
This is probably not a problem in places with longer growing seasons, but I live in zone 3 in Saskatchewan, where we only have 90-100 growing days depending on what the frost decides to do that year.
Because I have a short growing season, I start almost all of my cut flowers indoors, then direct seed a second crop of the seeds with a shorter number of days to maturity. This way, I’m guaranteed flowers even if we have an early frost and something unexpected happens at either end of the growing season.
Generally, I start my flowers 4-6 weeks before I intend to set them outside. I have started them earlier, but I find that they are difficult to harden off and take forever to get going. I’m working on refining my hardening off process, and I promise to share it with you when I find something that’s a little more fool-proof.
That said, there are some varieties that need to be started 8 weeks or more before you intend to plant. Check your seed packets to confirm when it’s best to plant.
You can buy cut flower seeds at your local garden centre or from online seed companies. If you don’t care too much about specific varieties and colours, it’s fine to pick up whatever you find at a garden centre or even a big box store.
If you’re looking for specific specialty colours or the prettiest flowers to blow up your IG feed, you’ll probably need to order online. I’ve compiled a list of the best places to buy seeds for a cutting garden in Canada, the US, and Europe.
With all that out of the way, here are my favourite easy-to-grow cut flowers that are perfect for beginners. At the end of the list, I’ll also include others which I think you should avoid, either because they have really long days to maturity, or are difficult to grow.
Amaranth is one of the easiest possible flowers for a beginner, especially the Love Lies Bleeding variety pictured here. Direct sow early in the spring, basically forget about them (an occasional watering is appreciated) and collect the blooms in the fall.
Calendula is a multipurpose flower in the garden. It’s a beautiful and versatile cut flower, it is a beneficial flower in the vegetable garden, and it’s leaves are great dried in homemade beauty products. Who knew a flower that’s so pretty could have so many uses?
Cosmos are a wonderful cut-and-come-again flower. There are so many beautiful varieties available that you don’t have to just stick to the basic ones. Try the cupcake, double flowering, or lemon varieties.
Pincushions are amazing because they look good at every point in their life cycle. Whether you cut them when they’re just emerging, in bloom, or as a seed pod, they look interesting in the vase.
Rudbeckia is available in both perennial and annual varieties. This beautiful flower will bloom in late summer and last all the way into the fall until a hard frost.
Snapdragons are easy to find in garden centres and big box stores if you aren’t able to start them from seed yourself. Look for the Madame Butterfly and Rocket varieties to ensure they grow tall enough for cutting.
Snapdragons are surprisingly hardy, and will survive the first frost of the season.
Stock is not a cut-and-come-again flower, but it’s so pretty and so easy to start from seed that it still makes my list. My stock plants also survived the hardening off process in the spring the easiest.
Strawflowers are hands down my new favourite cut flower to grow from seed. Almost every seed I planted came up, they last a long time in the vase, are a cut-and-come-again flower, and are easy and fun to save seeds from. Just make sure you purchase a tall variety, and not a dwarf one that’s meant for pots.
A fall garden isn’t complete without sunflowers! You don’t have to stick with just the yellow ones either. There’s a whole range of beautiful blooms in brown, red, pink, and orange too, with many variations in between. Choose branching varieties so you get the most blooms possible.
In my opinion, zinnias are the backbone of a cut flower garden. There’s so many varieties with gorgeous, vibrant colours, in any size. They’re easy to start from seed, and grow well direct soon too. For something different, try growing the Zinderella and Queen Lime varieties.
While I’m a firm believer that you should plant what you love, I also think a head’s up as to what might be difficult for beginners is good too. The following flowers on my list are either hard to grow, had some surprising negatives for them, or require an extra long period to maturity.
Please remember that it’s my personal opinion and what is difficult in my zone 3 garden on the prairies, might not be as difficult where you live.
Okay, okay, stop sharpening your pitchforks! I love poppies, but here’s why I think they might not be the best choice for beginners.
The lisianthus flower is stunningly beautiful, much like a rose. However, it takes around 200 days to mature and requires very specific growing conditions. Again, I realize that this flower is not impossible to grow, and with a bit of research you can figure it out. But if you’re a beginner, it’s probably best to wait a few years before you tackle it.
I’ve taken all the guesswork out of creating a cut flower garden with my e-book, Cut Flowers Made Simple. It’s the perfect way for beginner and intermediate gardeners to start their own cut flower garden with or without seed starting.
Click on the picture to find out more or get your copy.
So what do you think? Any flower you think should be added to this list? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots. She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden. She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.
What’s the easiest way you can make a dent in your gardening budget? Saving seeds!! It’s so easy to save seeds from cut flowers and other annual flowers that you can use next year. While some seeds require a little more know-how than others to save, I’ve compiled some of the easiest flower seeds to save–even if you don’t know what you’re doing. Here’s my list of 5 easy annual flowers that are perfect for beginner seed savers.
Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots. She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden. She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.
Gardening in a drought is no fun. Sure, if you have access to city or well water, you can keep everything living. But nothing will really thrive. As gardeners, we like to be conscious of our footprint on the environment and save water where we can.
One of the best ways to do this is to plant native plants. Once established, these perennial flowers and bushes will help beautify your yard and be able to withstand a drought year. Plus, they are generally very low maintenance–win win!
When I say native plants, I am going to be talking about mostly domesticated varieties that are available in garden centres. Please DO NOT scour country side ditches and transplant native plants to your home. It may seem like you’re helping an endangered species by giving it a controlled environment, but you’re actually hurting it.
Native plants need the specific ecosystem they are in to thrive. Your garden is not that ecosystem. Plus, you’ve just taken away a future source of seeds for that plant from the area.
Finally, removing native plants is illegal and there are steep fines. Ladyslippers and Prairie lilies are gorgeous, but are really best enjoyed in their native Prairie habitat.
The varieties I’m suggesting today should be available for purchase at most local greenhouses, or by mail order. However, if you’d like to go further into the world of native plants, your local Native Plant Society will likely have a list of places you can responsibly order seeds from. Here are links to the native plant groups in the three Prairie Provinces.
In short, yes. Like any other bush or perennial, your plants need to be watered every day (unless it’s raining or the ground is saturated) the first year until they are more established. I personally would water them in the second year as well, especially if the weather is abnormally dry or hot.
After the third year, your native plants should require very little care.
One last disclaimer–this list is intended for a beginner gardener in the Prairie Provinces or even the Mid-West of the United States. I garden in zone 3 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and my list is best suited for this area.
I’ve strived to pick plants that are readily available and drought tolerant. This means, they may not be the exact native variety, but a naturalized one. I hope you find this list with pictures helpful!
If you would like to go further in your native plants journey, I urge you to see the sites I’ve suggested above. Is there a plant you feel should be on this list? Let me know in the comments!
Buffalo Berry
There are lots of beautiful native shrubs, but unfortunately, it is not so easy to find stock photography of them. Please see this website for plenty of shrub options with pictures. I think the Mountain Maple and Smooth Sumac would also be beautiful options.
There are many beautiful grasses you can grow to add winter interest and movement to your garden. It is suggested that you grow at least one cool season and one warm season variety. Click here to read more and discover different varieties.
Virginia creeper can become invasive, so plant with caution!
Which one of these resilient plants will you plant? Or will you create a whole flower garden with them?
Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots. She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden. She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.
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