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Growing Annuals for Cutting: Design, Maintain, and Harvest a Cutting Garden

How to Plan a Cutting Garden

Lush flowerbeds tempt you to snip stems for indoor arrangements, but you may worry about leaving bare spots. A dedicated cutting garden solves this—produce plenty of cuttable flowers without compromising your ornamental beds.

1. Choose a location. Pick an inconspicuous spot—along a garage or back corner—with full sun and rich, well-drained soil. A cutting bed’s sole purpose is flower production, so don’t worry about aesthetics. Mix colors, textures, heights, and varieties freely. Plant all your favorites.

2. Keep it simple. Plant in rows for easy weeding, feeding, and cutting. Integrate with a vegetable or herb garden if space is limited. If you lack dedicated space, scatter cutting flowers throughout existing beds rather than clustering them.

Learn how to combine annuals in a pretty flower border.

Cosmos are easy from seed or transplants; their feathery foliage is as lovely as their flowers.

3. Mix and match. Plant a balanced mix of perennials and annuals. Perennials return yearly; annuals let you experiment. Both make excellent cut flowers. More colors, heights, and textures mean more creative arrangements.

4. Don’t limit yourself. Use flowering hedges, aromatic herbs, vines, and interesting foliage to add pizzazz.

Maintaining a Cutting Garden

Stagger planting of each variety so blooms don’t all appear and fade at once.
Water, feed, and deadhead regularly for maximum blooms.
Cut flowers in early morning or evening, not in midday heat when plants are stressed.
Use a sharp, clean tool. Dirty tools spread bacteria and rot stems. Specialized cutters with a thorn-stripping notch make clean cuts.
Submerge newly-cut stems in warm water with floral preservative for one hour to rehydrate before arranging.
Before arranging, remove any foliage that will sit below the water line.