When those stunning seed catalogues arrive through the post, it is so easy to get overwhelmed and spoilt for choice as there are so many varieties of flowers to grow for cutting, from seed! The catalogues are so beautiful that it makes it vert tricky to know which varieties to choose from!
How should you choose?
Image Cornflowers 'Blue Ball' and Scabious 'Tall double red'.
Here are some tips to think about when choosing your seeds.
Think about your growing space. Have you got a dedicated patch or garden especially for cut flowers or are you growing in your borders? Having a dedicated space meaning you can possibly grow more.
Be realistic on how many varieties you can grow in your space rather than trying to grow everything! Plan your space and really think about how much space each plant will take. Count how many plants you will need and then oversow by about 20% as not all will reach maturity.
Have you perennials and shrubs you can cut from? If you have, then factor this in when choosing your cut flower seeds.
Think about how you want your flower arrangements to look. Do you want lots of umbel shaped flowers or do you prefer more foliage? Most arrangements need focal flowers, supporting flowers and foliage so you will need to grow some of each. If you just grow focal flowers such as dahlias, then you will soon find that your arrangements are missing something! However, maybe you want to grow just focal flowers as you have many shrubs to cut from.
Image shows simple flower arrangement with different flower shapes and colours.
What colours do you like and how will they look together when you are making arrangements? If you know you really love pink flowers, then grow lots of pink flowers BUT maybe add one or two other colour to compliment such as greens, whites or lilacs.
Try and include flowers that flower at different times. For example, have you ever sown biennials? Biennials are invaluable flowers for the gap in May when many other cut flowers haven't started flowering and the Spring bulbs are coming to an end. During our summer course we sow a stunning collection of biennials. Please see the course outline here.
Choose something new or a seed you've never sown before! I am a great believer in learning something new so I always sow a new variety of seed each year. How will you know if you like something unless you try it?
Image shows 'Didiscus' grown in 2022 for the first time! Sow and grow something new!
I hope that helps you when you come to choosing your seeds! Happy sowing and growing!
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