I love sitting in my living room on a cozy winter day with a pile of seed catalogs in front of me. I am full of hope and anticipation for the upcoming year and garden and my excitement is palpable. This is also when I overcommit myself, decide to grow everything, and seem to forget summer me also has two little kids to take care of. I love it all the same.

If you’ve never begun to plan a specific cutting garden the choices may seem incredibly overwhelming! It may be a lot easier than you think following a few simple principles and concepts.

First and foremost my recommendation is to grow what you love. Grow your favorite and most beloved flowers! If you don’t care for a particular flower- there is no need to grow it even if someone else considers it a garden “essential".” This may seem obvious but I see so many gardeners grow things that they are “supposed” to instead of things they just love.

Next is choosing a color palette. If you love all variety of colors, or don’t plan on arranging bouquets you may not find this important. But I think it’s an important factor to consider. I’ve grown some really lovely things that didn’t pair well with anything else in my garden so I found myself not using it in any bouquets. If you have minimal room to garden I would choose a specific color palette, if you have have more room and want to grow a variety try to make sure each flower you grow pairs well with at least 2 other things. Think of it like a capsule wardrobe! If pairing things in your mind doesn’t come easily to you, use a program like Canva to collage the example photos together.

If you intend on growing flowers specifically for bouquets you would want to keep design principles in mind when making the decision on what to grow. A traditional bouquet is made up of the following components- greenery, line flower, focal flower, filler flower, and typically another smaller flower. This is 5 categories of flowers you would want to grow. On the smallest scale this would be just 5 plants needed for a proper bouquet! Now, that doesn’t factor in quantity of boquets, or the assurance they are all blooming at the same time, but we don’t need to worry about that just yet. Let me break down those 5 categories for you:

Greenery. This is absolutely critical to any bouquet. Not just structurally, but also to add fullness and to round out an arrangement. It is the foundation to every bouquet! Greenery will make your flowers go much farther. I prefer to use perennial foliage for greenery, but that’s just me! Some of my favorites include:
- Apple mint (or any mint)
- Mt. Snow Euphorbia
- Eucalyptus Raspberry leaf

Line Flower. These are single stems with multiple blooms growing vertically along the stem. These create the height and overall shape of a bouquet. My favorites are:
- Snapdragons (which are cut and come again!)
- Stock
- Larkspur
- Delphinium
Focal flower. These flowers are larger in size and often disc-shaped. I like to have a variety of focal flowers
- Roses if you want to invest in perennials
- Dahlias
- Zinnias
- Cosmos
- China Asters
- Sunflowers
- Carnations
Filler Flower. Gone are the days of red roses and baby’s breath, but the principle still holds true. You need to have something to fill-out the bouquet. This doesn’t always have to be a smaller flower, but can also be something textural, as well!
- Dusty Miller
- Orlaya
- Queen Anne’s Lace (although I find its size to be a hindrance in its pairing. It needs other large blooms to look appropriate).
- Statice
- Phlox
Smaller Flowers. Some of my favorite flowers are in this category. Too small to be a focal flower, but not a filler, either.
- Scabiosa
- Sweet Pea
- Cosmos (sometimes can be focal)
- Phlox (sometimes can be filler)

Choosing What to Grow (Cutting Garden 201)

Let’s Start From the Beginning (Cutting Garden 101)