Kitchen Garden Forum

It is always nice to be given flowers. But the cost can be expensive and some are flown hundreds of miles.

So, I though it would be nice to grow a few flowers on the allotment - suitable for cutting for the house.

on my list are
Sweat peas
ammi majus Bishop's flower
Cleome
cosmos
carnations
verbena bonariensis

anyone else suggested something pretty that survives in a vase?

Christina

Dear Christina,
sweet williams, phlox, sunflowers, nigella, larkspur, asters (both callistephus and real aster kinds), statice. Really the list is quite long and is very subjective.
Perhaps a set of future articles in KG would be useful. Something along these lines perhaps.
Direct sown hardy annuals
Fowers for drying (you can save money for flowers in the winter as well!)
Climbing cut flowers
Perennial cut flowers
Fowers from bulbs and tubers.
Half hardy cut flowers.
Scented cut flowers.
After all a cutting garden was always placed in the veg garden as they are harvested rather than being admired in situ.
Regards Sally Wright.

If you choose varieties suitable for pollinators then space them over your allotment it will also benefit your veggie pollination too.

Dear Christina,

Another few are Gladioli, the new glamour glads are very good.
Dutch Iris.
Dahlia, try and pick one of the long stemmed varities.

I've started growing more cut flowers over the last couple of years, and must admit, i get a lot of pleasure from doing so.

We always have cut flowers in with the vegetables. Always Sweet Peas and Dahlias but the others vary a bit. This year we have Asters, Gladiolus and Antirrhinums (not tried them for cutting before but these are Rocket 2½' tall, not cut any yet). Often have spray Chrysants, Statice for drying, we also grow Gourds for drying.

I'm totally new to flower growing having only ever grown veggies and fruit but have now discovered a real passion for dianthus so can recommend them, they're also great because you can get little small alpine ones through to larger plants and such a range of colours.

We don't just have cut flowers we plant annual flowers in amongst our fruit in the fruit beds. We also have a lavender border around some fruit beds. Not only are the flowers great for the bees, butterflies, hoverflies and other beneficial insects but they also add a bit of colour once the fruit is over.

We grew our dahlias from seed and if this is successful probably will do this each year instead of trying to overwinter tubers. We just want plenty of colour and are not too bothered about named varieties.

I agree with all the above flowers mentioned as I grow most of them, but I would add Achillea Gold plate big flat heads on them and they dry and keep their colour for winter also the Achillea The Pearl lots of small white flowers. I find that Dahlia's dont last long in the house, I do grow alot of them both from seeds and tubers.

Bren

These are all great suggestions.

I'd forgotten about Sweet Williams - they used to be my grandmother's favourite. When I was a kid we'd often take her a bunch. I'll definitely grow those - so thanks Sally for the recommendation and bringing back happy memories.

I've never grow Dahlias before so that will be an interesting experiment. If you grow them from seed (rather than tubers) will they flower in the same year?

Gladioli are another excellent suggestion - because they cost a fortune as cut flowers.

I'm also adding chives to my list which I love. I have them bordering the path in my garden and the bees love them. Also I'm fond of Calendula - and they are a good companian plant too.

I've also discovered http://www.sarahraven.com/ site - which has some good suggestions.

The dahlias we sowed from seed this year are flowering now - they've been a bit slow as it's been so dry but usually you can treat them as annuals.

Can I add Phacelia tanacetifolia? We always grow it for green manure but this year I have grown a patch for the flowers and they have turned out briliiant cut flowers, keeping for a long time and their blue looks great with pot marigolds!

At the moment the phacelia flowers are covered with honey bees, bumble bees, other bees and thousands (and I mean that) of hover flies.

Dear Christina, an excellent topic to bring up, which has received some lovely replies.

Blue Phacelia with the golden orange of marigold sounds lovely Monika. I can imagine them now in a short vase tied as a posy. Plus, both are so easy to grow and will easily self seed - so that's pretty and inexpensive.

Another combination to add to the list - was one I'd seen in a raised bed at the Eden project. They had Verbena Bonariensis mixed together with Gaura lindheimeri 'The Bride'. Both are very open and the two together made a beautiful combination. They too are also very easy to grow.

Christina

Yes Daylia seed will flower the year you sow them, I sowed alot of Bishop of Llandaff this year, I bought the orignal as a tuber and saved my own seed and I have a good show not all have the dark leaves, the bishop of Oxford didn't do quiet so well only a few flowered.
I usually think you get what you pay for, this year I broke that rule and bought a packet of Gladioli from the poundshop 30 0dd bulbs and all have flowered mostly dark rich red and purple.
Bren

Some lovely suggestions, I especially like the bee friendly ones, like the marigolds and phacaelia, nice combination