Planning a Perennial Cutting Garden

Lush flowerbeds overflowing with colorful blooms make you want to snip stems for indoors. But you may be reluctant, afraid of leaving bare spots. Hesitate no more. Two strategies for producing plenty of cuttable flowers without destroying your garden's look:

1. Plant a cutting garden. With a designated cutting bed, plant and cut without worry. Select inconspicuous location—along garage or back corner—with lots of sun and rich, well-drained soil. A cutting bed's sole purpose is flowers for cutting, so don't worry about appearance. Mix colors, textures, heights, varieties. Plant all favorites.

2. Keep it simple. Make bed easy to weed, feed, cut by planting in rows. Could be part of existing vegetable/herb garden. Crop-style planting blends in; "production" gardens in one location. If no space, spread cutting flowers throughout existing beds; don't cluster. Plant the best perennials for cut-flowers.

3. Plan ahead. Avoid gaps if scissors get too much exercise. Draw existing beds on paper, noting varieties, bloom times, heights. Pencil in flowers to cut. Use bloom cycles to create a mix.

4. Mix and match. Plant balanced mix of perennials and annuals. Perennials return yearly; annuals let you experiment. Both make excellent cut flowers. More colors, heights, textures = more fun creating indoor arrangements.

5. Don't limit yourself. Use flowering hedges, aromatic herbs, plants with interesting foliage for pizzazz.

• Achillea (yarrow)
• Anemone japonica (Japanese anemone)
• Campanula (bellflower)
• Carnation
• Coreopsis
• Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower)
• Gaillardia (blanketflower)
• Hibiscus moscheutos (rose mallow)
• Iris
• Liatris (gay-feather)
• Monarda (bee balm)
• Paeonia (peony)
• Phlox
• Rosa (rose)
• Rudbeckia hirta (black-eyed Susan)
• Salvia
• Veronica (speedwell)
• Hydrangea