– FOR FUN OR PROFIT
By Soni Holiday | Local Flora, Fulshear
If you are interested in adding cut flowers to your garden or landscape, there are a lot of great options! If those of you reading already have a planting site with full sun, good drainage and nutrient rich soil let’s continue!
Some things to consider are buying seed vs. transplants.
- Varieties that are easy to source (my favorite for home gardeners is Johnny’s) as seed are: zinnia, cosmos, celosia, ammi, basil, and sunflowers.
- You can usually find transplants for snapdragon, stock, dianthus, marigold, lisianthus, foxglove, and delphinium at local garden centers.
- Make sure you check out the plant height on the label. Long stems are desirable for cuts, so dwarf varieties won’t really work unless you are making a cocktail arrangement. 18 to 20 inches is best.
- Some varieties need to be pinched when young to provide many stems instead of one large stem. Varieties that need pinching include snapdragons, stock, cosmos, and celsosia.
- When the plants have about 6 to 8 sets of leaves, cut the stem above the 4th set of leaves so that the lateral branches will start growing and produce more stems.
- Timing of harvest is also important. Harvest in the morning or early evening when temperatures are low. Strip leaves off as much as you can. Place cut stems straight into clean water. Air pockets and dirt will cause flowers to wilt.
- After harvesting allow the flowers to sit in a cool place and hydrate for a couple of hours. When arranging cut flowers you can use flower food to extend the life of your arrangement. If you don’t have any change the water out every few days to reduce bacteria growth.
Remember that cut flowers are seasonal. Luckily, in southeast Texas we have an almost year round growing season.
The trick is to get plants in the ground at the right time. Some cut flower varieties keep giving blooms for months while some, like sunflowers are one and done. If you want continuous blooms you will need to do some research to figure out what, when and how to plant certain varieties.
