
How should Spring bring forth a garden on hard stone? Become earth, that you may grow flowers of many colors. For you have been heart-breaking rock. Once, for the sake of experiment, be earth!
Rumi
Cut Flower Garden
What is there to write about flowers that has not already been said. I guess I will say that the only flowers my family grew were roses. There is a rose festival in Iran where they are from and so they were very much nostalgic flowers for them, but weirdly I have never been a rose fan. I always found their thorns and neediness to be too stressful, and never enough blooms for long enough to justify the effort. So I breathed a sigh of relief and decided my cutting garden would be rose free. That’s the beauty of growing your own flowers – grow what you love, what brings you joy.
So without further ado an abbreviated list of my favorite annual and perennial cut flowers in my northeast garden. I know I have also written a lot about native plant gardening so many of these here are the non-native species that I grow for cutting or enjoyment.


Daffodils
I’ve lost count of how many daffodil bulbs I have planted – so many varieties from double, split corona, and trumpet in sizes ranging from tiny minnow blooms to large varieties that can be the size of your hand. Pink/Salmon, white, yellow, and all the combinations thereof. Order in late summer for fall planting and don’t cut back foliage until its yellow for increasing blooms year after year. Some people don’t like the scented varieties, but I have a few that I love to bring in for their perfume in spring.


Find everything you need to know about growing Daffodils – Among the Flowers – Drifts of Daffodils
Peonies
If I could name a flower for me that was like roses to my family it would be peonies, many of them smell divine and their fleeting season is always too short. It’s a bittersweet goodbye when the rain and heat take them out, but its a joyous greeting when the bloom with bigger and more blooms each successive spring. Plant them from bareroot in the fall and stake with supports in the spring (very necessary as larger blooms take on water and fall over in the rain)




Find everything you need to know about growing Peonies- Among the Flowers – Peony Perfection
Bearded Iris
It took me a while to appreciate bearded irises as the ones I first planted struggled or took time to take off. I added many new varieties in recent years and can’t wait until they are healthy enough to divide and propogate to fill in difficult spots in the garden. I love them bc they tolerate some shade and moist conditions where other plants do not thrive. The scented varieties can also be so amazing when cut and brought indoors, perfuming the whole house.


Dahlias
If there is one plant I will be willing to put in effort into the way my family put into roses it’s dahlias. Here in NY they will not survive winter in the ground so I have dutifully dug and stored tubers every year since they arrived in my garden. Plant them in late spring/early summer after last chance of frost and dig in the fall after a frost has killed the foliage. I store mine in tubs with pine shavings in an unheated basement.





Find everything you need to know about growing Dahlias – Among the Flowers – Delightful Dahlias
Cosmos
Something about the way cosmos dance in the breeze is so magical. They will always be in my cut flower garden – in recent years they have reseeded themselves but I often sow directly in the soil after last frost and can enjoy them from midsummer through first frost in the fall.

Find everything you need to know about growing Cosmos – Among the Flowers – Cascades of Cosmos
Zinnias
I plant these for the bees as well as myself, around the same time I plant cosmos or later when vegetable beds get harvested in summer and I can’t think what to plant. They provide a nectar source in late fall for migrating monarchs and hummingbirds as well.


Find everything you need to know about growing Zinnias – Among the Flowers – Zesty Zinnias
Sunflowers
Some of the most impactful cut flowers are sunflowers. Plant directly in the soil after last frost or start in trays and transplant out. The biggest battle for me is keeping bunnies and deers away long enough for them to grow and mature



Find everything you need to know about growing Dahlias – Among the Flowers – Sunflower Symphony
Honorable mention – Amaranth, Celosia, Grasses, Flowering Branches
I’m always looking for filler to highlight the cut flowers in my arrangements – and often I turn to these three for that height, color, drama, or greenery.


I hope I have inspired you to start a cut flower garden of your, filled with flowers that you would love to fill your home with.
Want to build a Raised Bed Flower Garden – see how we built ours for less than $200
DIY – Raised Bed Garden
Want to find all my favorite flowers in the garden? You can find the whole series at link below
Among the Flowers