Looking to expand my cutting garden with some perennials.
I have iris and peony
cone flowers

Any ideas on what else would make a good cut flower



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Shasta Daisy
Aster/Michaelmas Daisy
Mountain Bluet
Veronica Speedwell or other varieties
Coral Bells and Bishops Weed (most grow them for foliage but the flowers look good in a mixed bouquet)
Ladies Mantle
Lavender
Rose
The following self seed so they act like perennials:
Sweet William/Dianthus
Snapdragon
Love-in-a-Mist
Sweet Peas

Lilies
Salvia - I particularly like Victoria Blue
Chrysanthemum
Black eyed Susan

Thank you for the ideas
I need more daises , mine are the short ones

Roses don't like me and I guess I have left them out of the garden because of that

I have seen lilies at the farmers market in arrangements but they cut the whole stem???do they come back after that or do you have to replant every year .
I have some , and the asiatics are wonderfully scented .

after the asiatic lilies are finished blooming it's best to cut them back by a third. top dress with compost and work some bone meal into the soil in the spring? not sure when. if you feed your lilies they'll come back every year. so yes they would be good cut flowers-just remember to cut the stamens off before you bring them in the house. they stain whatever they touch. zinnias are great cut flowers. a full sun annual that grows from seed quickly. amaranth, celocia, buddliea, dahlias, rhododendrons, wegelia, spirea. anything you can pick I suppose though some do better than others. hydrangeas usually hold up well for me. I always look for interesting leaves to add for structure in the arrangement. sometimes a few bare twigs works well. hope I have helped a little. ps give the roses another chance! a gardener such as yourself can do it!!

a suggestion: look up FLOWER HILL FARM in Boonville NY. This gal is amazing. Flowers are her thing. she grows and sells gorgeous bouquets. this should give you more ideas. don't forget astilbe. a reliable perennial for spring cutting with forsythia and pussy willows. and don't let the roses boss you around.my husband-who knew absolutely nothing about growing anything-had a rose garden that was the envy of the neighborhood. 21 different roses. just heavenly.

Hi Cinda,
First, thank you for the acorn

Also, I was thinking about it a little more; daffodils, narcissus, and tulips (of course, it's hard to get perennial tulips) perhaps Darwin hybrids, but I never had much luck with those after the second season!

Breith95 is correct about the lilies - remember to remove the stamens!
Here are a couple websites that I quickly read about lily care - I'm sure you can Google many more

https://www.gardeningknowhow.c...

https://plantcaretoday.com/fer...

I, too, love hydrangea blooms - if you are including shrubs.
I truly admire those who can grow roses. I cannot - I've tried

Don't forget the 'weeds'. tall grasses with fluffy heads and Queen Anns Lace. I've always treated my roses like tomatoes. water, top dress. don't get the leaves wet. next year I'm planning on buying at least 2 roses. Good luck with everything!

breith95 - is Queen Anne's Lace grown as a flower where you are? It is an abundant wildflower/weed here; however, I know it is considered a "flower" in some areas — nonetheless, it is beautiful.

Hydrangeas are wonderful.. huge lush, long lived, super easy to root from cuttings, shade loving, and as long as you cut green stem they last nearly forever in a vase. if you don't have any, get some... preferably free from a neighbor. They are that easy to root from cutting.

You already have peony, which are my favorite

Any bulb lily cuts beautifully and is long lasting. you've already been warned about removing pesky stamens to avoid stains, but you only get one shot per year. Oriental lilies have the most beautiful smell, so it's worth it for me,. Just like hyacinth and tulip, you only get one per year But lilies are better. If they have loose soil and full sun I've had single stems fatter than my thumb with 20 blooms... like peony, either steak them or cut them early, because heavy rain can knock them over and cause a lot of damage to delicate petals, to say nothing of the slugs that will feast on them overnight in wet weather


I love, love oriental poppies. They bloom early and last long in a vase. Their big blooms of papery petals on long delicate stems w the most outrageous orange/red around either blinding yellow or jet black centers- it stops me in my tracks every year.

Next fav is delphiniums, if you like snaps, you will love delphinium. They do well as cut flowers, and will reward you with more blooms when you do cut, but they are not very long lived as far as perennials go. They don't like hot weather, so if you plant do it early to make sure they have plenty of cool spring to establish deep roots in cool damp soil before they bake in July.


As a final note, Because I could go on forever, I think if you have the right vase, all flowers are cut flowers. Snaps are not perennial in 5b, but still beautiful, and cutting them will encourage more blooms outside, unlike you're "one and done" bulbs. As far as annuals, verbena, geraniums are lovely in a short vase and I often float a short fat clematis flower or begonia bloom in a martini glass on the bathroom vanity. You don't need a long stem to enjoy cut flowers, you just need the right container.

My clematis are blooming so I ran outside in the dark to cut some just to help illustrate how any flower can be a cut flower in the right container. Dont limit your flower arrangements to a single vase or long stem.

Do not forget Hosta, for the green---all kinds of shapes and color, very large and very small, they are very forgiving plants---When you do Ikebana, they hide the frog----

Roses are beautiful---they are not really hard--you just have to choose the easy roses, I have neglected my roses in the backyard and they are blooming, I had not been watering them, not even pruning them, they are big, and beautiful and no blackspot----I really do not deserve them giving so many flowers to me-I wish I can post pictures of them--I have a MacBook Pro and after updating it, I cannot post my photos any longer---anyone please help so I can post my flowers again. Obviously I am very challenged in the new technology---Someone from the Apple store showed to me but now I do not remember any longer--should have written it down, step-by little step and click---

Thank you for the input , I have hostas need to make better use of them.

Sorry I can't help on the tech thing I still use a flip phone and have never even texted before
My adult son is in the tech business so teaches me all the hard stuff
I think if you pose your question on the site forum they can help

I did, and someone tried to help, but it still did not work! I have to try again!

don't give up

Don't forget foliage. I'm a huge fan of some foliage in a bouquet. If the bouquet is not for sniffing, yarrow is nice (but smells like dirty socks.) I love fern fronds, anything variegated, and gorgeous leaves like:
Coleus:
https://garden.org/plants/sear...
sweet potato vines:
https://garden.org/plants/sear...
Alternanthera:
https://garden.org/plants/sear...
Persian shield:
Persian Shield (Strobilanthes auriculatus var. dyeriana)
Pothos:
https://garden.org/plants/sear...
Pretty heart leaf vine:
Heart Leaf Philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum var. oxycardium)
Philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum var. oxycardium 'Brasil')

All of the above can take root in a vase, and you can keep the foliage going while adding flowers when available.

I make bouquets of just colorful foliage often. Flowers are fun, but come and go in a flash it seems like. Gorgeous foliage is there every day.

KYgal, Queen Annes Lace is a weed here too but it's related to carrots I believe. it you pull the plant out the root smells like a carrot. i've always loved the look of the flower. it was growing in the field next to the parking lot where I work. when the flower made it's seed head I took a couple home and tossed them into the soil. voila! next spring I had nice clumps here and there. they've been coming up every year since. If I don't want them where they come up I just pull them out. I have them in a raised bed with Obedient Plant, monarda, Joe Pye Weed, Valerian and Filipendula. it's my meadow bed. also random cosmos seedlings that sprout every year.

GARDENGUS-Flip phone for me too. however maybe I can get a friend to take some pics and upload in the system. maybe your tech savvy son could do that for you?

I completely envy Yahweh plants you can choose from. Any ideas for cutting in a tropical garden? Zone 9b or 10

You know, I don't think anyone mentioned calla lilies and cannas. And don't forget about peonies, fabulous as cut flowers, and some are fragrant! Plus they are easy to grow, and are a very long lived perennial. Oriental lilies are the ones with scents that make you swoon. There's also turks cap lilies. And don't forget about iris!
The thing to planning a perennial cutting garden is to plan for something to be blooming all the time…. And so you see the procession of the very early, like snowdrops, star of Bethlehem, to daffodils and narcissus, then iris, blooming shrubs such as spires, wisteria, roses, cone flowers and salvias, then late in the fall, asters and echinaceas again.
A lot of folks have a beautiful bloom season in the spring, but neglect to plant later bloomers. And the nurseries and box stores buy into this by what they offer in the spring.
Another good group of plants to explore are natives; they often have a long bloom season.