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 For early spring flowers, look to spring-blooming
bulbs like tulips and daffodils, and cool weather annuals like
pansies and snapdragons. Clipping branches from trees and shrubs
such as forsythia, quince and daphne is another good way to bring
spring into your home. Your perennial garden can provide bleeding
heart, iris, hellebores, peonies and much more.
If the selection in your own spring garden is limited, strike up a
trade with a friend. Pick some of theirs in the spring and share
some of yours in the summer. Then make a note to add more
spring-blooming bulbs and perennials to your landscape.
Gladiolas and dahlias add pizazz to summer and fall bouquets. These
spring-planted bulbs combine nicely with other summer flowers and
they continue to bloom well after other flowers have faded in the
heat of late summer. Get some free help planning your additions with
the “How to Design a Cutting Garden” article found at
longfield-gardens.com.
The flower-packed spikes of gladiolas are available in a rainbow of
colors that will inspire your creativity. These inexpensive bulbs
are easy to plant and take up very little space. Pop them into
containers, flowerbeds or even your vegetable garden. Start planting
in mid spring and continue every two weeks until midsummer for
months of colorful flower spikes.
With dahlias, you can choose from dozens of different flower sizes,
flower styles and colors. For easy, eye-catching bouquets, plant a
color-themed blend such as the Sugar Plum Mix from Longfield
Gardens. Another option is to select colors that will harmonize with
flowers that are already in your gardens such as phlox, sunflowers,
asters and lilies.
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Hybrid lilies are perennial garden favorites as well
as fabulous cut flowers. Plant the bulbs of Asiatic lilies, Oriental
lilies and Oriental-trumpet lilies in spring, for color and
fragrance that lasts all summer long. To ensure months of flowers,
be sure to plant a few bulbs of each type of lily.
Annuals play an essential role in any cut flower
garden. Extend your budget by starting zinnias, sunflowers, larkspur
and cosmos from seed, and supplement with greenhouse-grown
transplants of snapdragons, celosia, amaranth and statice.
Foliage can elevate an ordinary homegrown bouquet from good to
great, and your garden can provide all sorts of interesting options.
Incorporate the leaves of perennials such as hosta, baptisia,
artemesia and sage as well as flower farmer favorites such as bells
of Ireland, bupleurum and dusty miller. Shrubs such as ninebark,
boxwood, viburnum and holly are another source of attractive foliage
and some offer colorful berries as well.
Cutting and arranging flowers is a fun way to exercise your
creativity and bring the beauty of your garden indoors. The more you
do it, the easier it gets, and you’ll soon be sharing your flowers
with friends, neighbors, family, coworkers and everyone who stops
by.
[Photo credit: Longfield Gardens]
Melinda Myers has written numerous books, including Small Space
Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD
series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV &
radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for
Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Longfield Gardens
for her expertise to write this article. Her web site is
www.MelindaMyers.com. |
