Cutting Gardens Part II

Flowers are gorgeous in the garden, and I hate to cut them and take them away. It would be nice to have a cutting garden, even if it is just a corner of the vegetable garden. I think I would still hesitate to cut them, but my love of having flowers indoors would win out.

This thread was started in the annuals forum, but cut flowers can be anything from bulbs to shrubs, so I decided to move the thread here.

What are your favorite cut flowers- if you can bear to cut them? (I struggle with that.) Please share your tips for cutting bulbs, branches, annuals, Dahlias, Hydrangeas, or whatever suits your fancy. I'd love to see pictures of favorite cutting flowers in the garden, and in vases.

This is a nice shrub for cutting or forcing, Flowering Quince.

I will add the link to the old thread. Please bear with me, I've never started a second part to a thread before.

Here is the link to Part 1 so you can see what we've been up to:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/478686/

:0)
Cindy

Hi Cape Cod!

I know I just met you on another forum or thread - maybe Dahlias? Having not a thing to do this morning I read cutting gardens from beginning to end to part II. Thanks for encouraging people to come to the requests for a Dahlia forum. We need all the votes we can get.

What is it with our weather this May? Did we all get God angry? We are so cold here. It's very windy, wet and just rotten. Thanks to DG we can escape it for awhile. My husband and I are concerned that summer will arrive in a blast of heat. Then all the flowers will begin blooming at once.

We have a neighbor who put in a cutting garden - nothing compared to the one you have posted photos of but then, these folks are here for select weekends. The husband goes to a local nursery and goes by their advice as to what to plant. There are always zinnias. The yarrow and peonies and some others were discarded after the first year because they didn't produce flowers. Just impossible to educate some folks that most perennials don't produce in their first year. The people are nice, very intelligent and free of any worries about spending too much. I suggested a book on cutting gardens but could feel the snub.

We have no area to set aside for a cutting garden so I have to content myself with cutting from the 29 (tiny to large) gardens we do have for indoor arrangements.

One of the most fun arrangements I've ever done was the daylily bouquet for the neighbor's mother: About 20 stems of various daylilies. All with many buds but not a flower yet open. I told her that every day she'd see new flowers and every morning she'd have to deadhead it. Being a retired teacher she followed the instructions and had beautiful flowers for weeks. She was amazed at how they'd open, die during the night and new ones opened the next day.

Love the photos from your "job".

Arlene

Pirl- That's great! I never knew you could cut daylilies like that! What a beautiful gift.

Cindy - What kind of quince is that? I have "Cameo" and "Toyo-Nishiki", but I have never seen a pure pink like that one. How gorgeous.

I think I will cut my lilac (for blooms and to keep it bushy and small) when this blowing gets over. I may not have any blossoms left... Any recommendations on pruning? I don't care about next year's bloom.

Regarding lilac - you can safely cut out one quarter of the oldest canes/stems without harming (even improving) the lilac. Do it every year and in three years you'll have a totally rejuvinated lilac. I love the fragrant plants best of all.

Glads, dahlia, daisies, iris, daylilies, calla lilies, mums, asters, rudbeckia, lilies, peonies, poppies, zinnia, coreopsis, gaillardia, crocosmia, and many more are in my cut flower bed.
Can't have enough. I have flowers in the kitchen, family room and I take bunches to work at least twice a week too.

Hi pirl, It was the Hosta Forum.
I like using some hosta leaves in vases with flowers, too! And the fragrant flowers would be nice indoors.

It has been so cold here, no one can plant annuals. It is about 40 and windy. I had to work outside all day. I'm ready for a warm shower!

29 gardens? Sounds like your whole yard is a garden- mine is too.

I like your idea of a vase of all daylillies. I've used them with other flowers. Do you have to keep them in good light for the best color?

Ivy, I don't know the name of the Quince, sorry. I got it before I kept track of names.

Marc, you co-workers must love you!

Please post pictures of your flowers! I promise not to complain about zone envy.
I have more interest than time here, so often I dream of having the house full of flowers but they never make it from the garden to the house. This year I'm hoping things will be different. If I could just plop them in a vase, without removing the lower leaves, conditioning, etc- I'd probably have more, they just wouldn't last long.

Camassia "Quamash"

We haven't been here very long and my gardens are still developing. 4 years ago my BIL got married and I agreed to do the flowers for the wedding party. Had to get the Callas flown in because of the timing but they turned out perfectly. Got a call the night before that the brides son had forgotten to get flowers for the church so I was in my garden at 3 in the morning with a flashlight cutting all my oriental and asiatic lillies. Managed to get 5 big vases full. Enough to make a good show. They were so pretty no one thought twice about the different colors. Jessamine

Cindy, I love your Camassia! I've looked at them for years in the catalogs but never bought any. You can cut them?

jessamine- Oh, the pressure! I could never do flower arranging for anyone! I would freak out!

My daughter (4 1/2) makes the best flower arrangements. She will just pick stuff I would never think of- she got a peachy pink carnation at a parade last week. She brought it home, but it broke off about an inch from the top. She stuck it in a tiny, two inch tall vase with a double stem of forget-me-nots. It was very japanese in shape, the round carnation and then branchy blue flowers stretching horizontally away from it. Just breathtaking. (Don't mean to brag - I just can't do that stuff!) Sounds like you have a gift for arranging too!

Thank you, Ivy. It is a task that I greatly enjoy and I love to do the unusual ones. I can't take credit because it was something I learned as a child myself. Keep encouraging the little one. It is something she can enjoy all her life. Jessamine

I will!

Hey, I planted some big, beautiful dahlias last week. Does anyone know how long before they sprout? I've never grown dahlias before. I know they bloom in fall (if I am not too late planting). They are giant dinnerplate type, dark purple and gorgeous on the package. I can't wait!

Oh, now I remember. I got "Lilac Time" and "Lavender Perfection".

Cindy- how's that cottage garden of yours? My sweet peas are still 2 inches tall! Every time they get a little taller the wind comes and breaks them off! On the other hand my clematis seem to actually like being blown around. They are doing better this year than any other. Go figure.

P.S. Your Camassia is super!

Rikerbear- I love glads! What colors do you plant or do you go crazy and buy everything? I always wanted to do some purple, pink, and the weird green ones.

Ivy, my glads are a rainbow of color. Reds,pink,oranges, yellow, greenish, purple, violet, white. Just love them all.

Ivy,
Thank you. Yes, camassia can be cut. The old florets die and new ones open up, so it is good to cut them just when blooming starts and take off the old florets every day. I recommend it- so easy to grow- it is native here, and it does great in my clay soil.

It's great that your four year old loves to arrange flowers. My 2 year old granddaughter loves flowers- she even cries for them in the grocery store and sometimes her mother buys them for her.

Jessamine, you work well under pressure!

Marc, do you plant your glads all at once, or space out the plantings to extend the bloom time? I've been planting them in a cutting garden at work- 60 bulbs every 2 weeks, a total of 3 plantings.

If you space planting glads you will have sequential blooms the first year. My experience with leaving them in the ground is that the next year they will bloom on their own schedule.

When we do this at work, we dig and replant them every year. At home, I would not do that, so I guess they would bloom all at once the second year.

Not necessarily. Some glads just naturally bloom at different times, but fairly close together over a few weeks.

My neighbor planted about 100 glads last year and the squirrels ran off with about 75 of them. But some are coming up again.

Oceangirl - I hear you about the clay soil. Mine still drains pretty well, but most plants just wither and die. So far the plants that do well are Hydrangeas, Styrax (snowbell), Viburnum Carlesii, Variegated Weigela, Bloodroot (growing like crazy), Primroses, May Apple, Baggeson's Gold Lonicera, Clethra Rosea, and Thalictrum. I won't go into detail about all the things I've killed. It will be nice to have Camassia growing back there.

My glads tend to bloom in waves of color....reds first, yellows, oranges, purples etc. Kinda odd............

Well Ivy,
I was thinking about digging and dividing mine after it flowers. I'd like to have more in other areas.
I have no Idea what is going on under the soil but if I have extras I'd be happy to send you some. :)

I've never grown Thalictrum, but if it likes clay I should give it a try. I have trouble gettting some things to grow- like centranthus ruber (killed 2 or 3) and asclepias tuberosa- (killed about 4- but my ascepias incarnata is doing fine) Zinnias don't do wonderfully here, but they don't quite die. I'm not sure if the problem is poor drainage or high acidity. I just got a soil testing meter to figure this out.

Darius and Marc- It is good to know that the glads don't bloom all at once. I grew one color a few years ago so I would never have known that. I will have to try them again. I really love the purple, white and green ones- but they are all nice. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Cindy

Cindy - Thalictrum is beautiful- tall with sort of columbiney foliage all through the summer. As I recall, the bloom time is a little short, maybe two weeks?? but the foliage makes up for it. You do have to stake it.

Thank you for the offer of Camassia - I would love to have some, but please don't go to any trouble. I have so many plants I need to put in or move right now, I can't get to them!

Darius and Marc- There is just nothing as spectacular as a vase full of glads! I didn't know they came back. I thought you had to store the tubers or corms (whatever they have). I did that the first year - then put them in a cool shed for the winter and forgot them for 3 years. Oh, well.

I have a really good book on cutting gardens and it includes a lot of information about "conditioning" them when cut to make them last. Amazing how many different techniques are required for different flowers, including which ones need the stems seared! My books are in storage, but I think it's this one:
Cutting Gardens : The Complete Guide to Growing Flowers and Creating Spectacular Arrangements
by Anne Halpin
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671744410/ref=pd_sxp_elt_l1/103-9788321-8677441

Great info Darius!

Thanks, Darius, I added it to my amazon wish list. Looks like a really good book on the subject.

Did anyone see the segment on Victory Garden about foilage for cutting?? It was fun. They used things like banana leaves to wrap containers in.

I would love to hear everyone's ideas for using foilage in arrangements.

Ivy, I will get around to dividing them someday, and when I do I'll send you some. I keep making new garden beds, so I have more to maintain, and it's overwhelming this time of year. At least I come home from work all dirty from gardening so I can just grab some coffee and a snack and keep going until dark!

Here's a little vase I put together today. The lilly of the valley is discolored from all the rain we've had.

Another one, with Johnny Jump-Ups

How sweet. : )

I love Johnny Jump-ups! I think they are my favorite flower. Someone started a thread about violas over here:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/512471/

Oceangirl your vase is beautiful! Is that Bleeding Heart? I didn't know you could cut it! I just bought a white one two weeks ago, it's just getting ready to bloom and I will try that.

Please tell what everything else is. My guesses are scilla, columbine, and the white lower right hand corner I just don't know.

Foliage - Peony leaves are the best, Hosta leaves (except when they tip over my vases), Devil's Ivy (clip off stems from your house plant, leave it in the vase after the flowers are gone and it will root - new plant!), Lady's Mantle.

I see from my list that I like big leaves. I'll have to try some periwinkle or catmint next for the next vase.

Thanks, Darius. The green vase is really tiny, I'd say 2"X 2."

Ivy, I'm experimenting with a lot of things this year. This is the first time I've cut bleeding heart, and it seems to be holding up pretty well. The other things are verbena, and English Bluebells in pink and white- when they were planted, I thought they would all be blue.
I really love Johnny Jump-ups too.
I'm so happy I've finally got them to establish themselves in my garden. I know they do that too easily for most people, but between the mulching and pulling them out too soon It took me a while. Now I know what not to do if I want things to self sow.

I have never tried peony leaves in vases- good idea! I love using Hosta leaves, too. Heucheras are another favorite. I like to cut a branch of a shrub like Cottoneaster or Enkiathus (I don't have these shrubs, but I've done this for other people) and use it as a framework to support the flowers. I am still learning here, and it is great hearing everyone's ideas.

Oceangirl, I like your shrub branch idea. I have two little variegated Philadelphus' that have the most happy foliage. I won't cut them this year (though it's tempting) cause they're only about a foot tall. I expect in a couple of years I will have all the yellow speckled foliage I want, plus wonderful smelling flowers.

I want to try Beautyberry (Callicarpa) very badly! I can't make up my mind which one to get- "Profusion" or "Early Amethyst". Does anyone know if I could do one of each and still get berries? It would make the most beautiful arrangements. I should ask on the shrubs forum.

Here's something I just found on the web- http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/woodyornamentals.html

I have to remember that plants take 3 years to acclimatize to being in the garden. Everything is taking off this year. Hops vines are exploding out of the ground next to the garage; Hydrangeas I put in a couple years ago are starting to look good; My sad little 3 inch Junipers are now a foot and a half tall! Also, as they grow the growth rate doubles- so I think by next year they may be 3 feet tall!

Thanks for the link, Ivy.
I only have one beautyberry and it gets berries every year- if that helps.

I'm glad to hear everything is taking off for you!

I'm a little discouraged because winter moth caterpillars- by the thousands- are eating everything in sight, from the tall oak trees to my Roses and Heucheras. It is horrible. Last year I didn't get any roses until mid July. This year they are worse than ever. I want to spray with BT but honestly there are so many caterpillars that I don't think it would make any difference. At least the birds are eating them.
:(

Oh my gosh! How horrible. It must be very disheartening. I know 4 years ago we had horrible bug problems and I almost gave up gardening. It's really awful.

You should go ahead and spray. It may not help this year, but next year it might. Ours was a bad Japanese beetle and all kinds of borers invasion. It was terrible. We kept trying to treat it organically and then the second and third years were worse. They killed everything slowly- roses, iris, even the azaleas were covered with beetles! I had a weeping pussy willow and found them attached to the leaves. Even locusts came! I didn't think they were in Ct. My husband finally broke down and put down some grub stuff, and last year was like heaven- hardly any problems at all. I wonder if it was the grub treatment or some very industrious wrens that made a nest in our window box. I guess I'll never know.

Anyway, I feel so sad for you. Good luck. I hope they disappear soon.

I hope so, Ivy.
I think I will hold off on sending plants to anyone until the problem gets better. Just occurred to me that sending you anything from my garden could be risky for you.

There has been a release of a parasitic fly in Hingham which should help control the moth caterpillars, and I heard they will release more of the flies next year on the Cape. This worked in Nova Scotia, but it took about 4 years.

Just when the roses recover (they will be completly exfoliated) and the new leaves grow, the Japanese Beetles show up.

I think I will spray, I have the BT sitting in the shed, might as well use it.
Thanks for the encouragement.

Good luck and don't worry about sending any plants. You have enough to do as it is and I have a hundred things to plant before I can take anything else.

On a cheerier note - how about herbs as foliage in vases? I just thought how pretty they might be. Has anyone ever tried it? Parsley, dill, colored basils? Would they work?

I often put rosemary in with flowers in a vase, esp. if the rosemary is blooming. I use scotch broome a lot, too. Love it's texture.

ooooh, broom is a good idea! and I love rosemary. I just got some "Irene" prostrate rosemary to drape down over my retaining wall.

I was thinking about some bronze fennel that I just put in the garden- I like ferny things too.

hi,
what a great thread. well my peonies are starting to bloom and i have enough that i would like to cut some and bring them indoors. the major problem i'm having is....how do i get rid of the ants that are crawling around in and outside them?
thanks debi z and little franklin my gardening doggi

That's a very good question , Debi! I can never get them all off. I end up with little bugs crawling on my dining table!

I read somewhere that when bringing in houseplants in the fall, put them in a plastic bag with insecticidal soap. I'm afraid that might destroy a peony bloom, though, and it certainly wouldn't smell very good afterwards.

Anyone have the definitive answer?

Here's a "hello" to Franklin! What kind of doggy is he?

ivy, thank you. franklin is a pekingese.

Hi, Franklin, you cutie! My dog Tippy says hello. He's a miniature poodle. He's the first dog I ever had that will come outside and stay with me while I garden. All the others would run down the road and then look back and laugh ...

What's your garden like, Debi?

Ivy and Debi -

I put the peonies on the table on the back deck for about a half a day with that ant trap goo stuff in the tube (I forget the brand name) sqeezed onto an index card next to them. It takes care of most of them, but even so I end up with a few extra guests when I bring them in the house. Thankfully we have a dog that likes to eat bugs.

Stacy