6 Steps for Designing a Pretty, Productive Cutting Garden (2024)

To get started, think about the overall goals of a cut flower garden.

While you can, of course, snip blooms you’ve planted within the landscape, many gardeners get a little twitchy when their perfectly planned flower beds sport holes in them due to harvested blooms. Instead, by allocating a portion of your sunny garden space to growing flowers exclusively for bouquets, you’ll maximize production, minimize maintenance, and grow your favorite flowers that look great together in a vase.

With just a little planning and preparation, your vases will overflow with flowers throughout the seasons.

Before you order your first seed pack, take a look at the intended site for your cutting garden.

You don’t need acres to grow cut flowers—but you do need…

• full sun (at least 6 hours per day)
• easily accessible space located away from standing water
• area free from large root systems, which compete with your plants for water and nutrients. Avoid spaces with mature trees, which can also shade the cutting garden.

Once you determine the location for your cutting garden and before you order your first seed packet, test your soil. Good, nutrient-rich soil creates great flowers, and you want to give your floral babies the best start to produce dazzling blooms all season long.

A soil test shows not only the soil pH, but it also assesses what nutrients are needed by your plants—and whether your soil needs amendments to meet those needs.

Consider adding compost

This will improve the soil’s structure. Compost helps sandy soil retain moisture, but it also improves drainage for clay soil, reducing soil compaction and minimizing standing water, which can lead to root rot.

Compost encourages beneficial microorganisms to thrive in your soil, improving your plants’ health. Work compost into the cutting garden soil in spring before you plant.

Break out the graph paper: it’s time to design your cutting garden!

Once you’ve selected your site, measure its dimensions—and then transfer those measurements onto graph paper. Remember—the goal of the cutting garden is maximum production and efficient maintenance, so design the layout with those goals in mind. Whether you choose to plant in raised beds or in ground, make sure to leave pathways between your beds for easy access when you plant, harvest, and deadhead your flowers. A wheelbarrow should easily fit in the pathway.

Create the right size flower beds

Create beds wide enough for ample production—but narrow enough that you can easily reach the center of the bed from the path. A narrow, rectangular space allows access to your flower crop. A bed no wider than 4 feet makes planting and tending the flowers easy. The length of each bed depends on your available space. If you have ample room and want a continuous supply of fresh flowers with plenty to share, consider 4-foot by 10-foot beds, placing a 3-foot-wide path between them. Once you decide on the size of the beds and paths, draw the dimensions on the graph paper.

Calculate the amount of plants needed

When you have the beds and paths penciled into the plan, calculate how many plants can fit into each bed.

• Larger, bulkier plants with lots of foliage or branching need a 12-inch by 12-inch space.
• Flowers with very upright forms or single, non-branching stems can grow in a 6-inch by 6-inch space.
• Most common cut flowers, though, grow well in a 9-inch by 9-inch space. Use the graph paper to help you visualize the layout of your flowers.
• You’ll want taller varieties near the back of the garden, making sure they don’t shade lower-growing plants.
• If you plan to grow flowers than need trellising—like sweet peas—group those plants together in a bed.
• Some flowers, like snapdragons, need grow-through netting for support. Group those plants together.
• If you intend to grow perennial flowers and bulbs or tubers, plan a permanent space in the garden design where these flowers can grow undisturbed for years.
• Take a look at this sample layout from Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

Remember—this is just a plan.

It’s flexible. You can edit and modify plants and groupings throughout the growing season, once you determine what works well—and what needs some tweaking.

As you create your cut flower garden layout, keep in mind that you want to fill your vases all year long—or at least from spring until first fall frost.

Create your layout with the goal of continuous, beautiful blooms throughout the seasons. Select your plants, bulbs, tubers, and seeds for a wide array of flowers that bloom throughout the year.

• Early spring bulbs, like daffodils and tulips,
• Summer-blooming bulbs, such as varieties to celebrate the Year of the Lily,
• Summer-blooming flowers like perennial salvia and annual zinnias
• Late summer/autumn-blooming plants, including rudbeckia and sunflowers.

For ideas about what flowers to plant, check out our post here. When planting perennials in your cutting garden, make sure to check the plants’ hardiness zones to see if they’ll thrive in your area.

Spring:

• Focal: Daffodils, Tulips, Anemones, Ranunculus
• Spike: Larkspur, Snapdragon, Stock
• Disc: Poppies, Hellebores
• Filler: Statice, Queen Anne’s Lace
• Airy: Bachelor’s Buttons

Summer:

• Focal: Lilies, Zinnias, Sunflowers
• Spike: Celosia, Salvia, Bee Balm
• Disc: Cosmos, Rudbeckia, Yarrow
• Filler: Basil, Mint, Oregano, Amaranth
• Airy: Gomphrena

Fall:

• Focal: Zinnia, Chrysanthemum, Sunflowers
• Spike: Celosia, Salvia
• Disc: Cosmos, Strawflower, Rudbeckia, Marigolds
• Filler: Basil, Amaranth, Sweet Annie
• Airy: Orach

Also, think about your favorite flower colors, and then choose selections in that palette. Use complementary or contrasting blooms to add interest to your bouquets.

And, while not a part of the formal cutting garden, look to your flowering landscape shrubs to add beautiful blooms to your vases, too.

If you’re eager to get started, try the Easy Cut Flower Garden Set from Johnny’s Select Seeds, Grandmother’s Cut Flower Mix from Botanical Interests, or Easy-Care Cutting Garden from Territorial Seed.These cultivated seed collections make a great start for cutting gardens.

For detailed information on seed starting, check here.

The process of sowing multiple, smaller sets of annual seeds a few weeks apart helps extend your flower harvest.

Sow the first seeds, then wait a few weeks to sow more seeds—and then plant again in another few weeks. When you harvest your first set of flowers, the next sowing will be ready for harvest in a few weeks.

Consider the flowers you’re growing to determine when to succession plant.

Some plants are “one hit wonders”—such as single-stem sunflowers. Succession sow these seeds every two weeks. Medium producers, like snapdragons or larkspur, should be planted every three weeks. “Cut-and-come-again” flowers, such as zinnias and cosmos, should be sown every four weeks.

Take a look at this chart to help you determine when to succession plant your seeds. Although it’s geared toward flower farmers, you’ll find good recommendations for your cut flower garden.

Like all gardens, your cutting garden will need maintenance. However, if you’ve incorporated paths to easily access the beds, maintenance will be a breeze.

Deadheading comprises the most maintenance in your cut-flower garden. Remove spent blooms to encourage annuals (and some perennials) to continue producing buds instead of setting seeds. Deadheading not only helps extend the bloom period for the plant, but it also helps keep the plant healthy. As flowers decay, they attract pests and may spread diseases in the garden.

Keep the flowers well-groomed for a healthy, pretty, productive cutting garden.

Before you know it, your vases will be filled with beautiful blooms to enjoy all season long. Imagine the delight of your neighbors and friends when you surprise them with beautiful bouquets from your garden.

Let’s bring back May Baskets: we could all use a little kindness and cheer, straight from the garden.

Do you know that National Garden Bureau members include the most innovative breeders and distributors of bulbs, tubers, seeds, and transplants perfect for homegrown cut-flower bouquets?

If you’re looking to design a cut-flower garden, check out the varieties available from National Garden Bureau members.

About National Garden Bureau

Founded more than 100 years ago, the National Garden Bureau educates, inspires, and motivates people to grow home gardens. National Garden Bureau members are horticultural experts, and the information shared with you comes directly from these experts to ensure your gardening success.