Jewels of the Cut flower patch – Zinnias
Another star of the late summer cut flower garden are the Zinnias, if you want some vibrant hot colours for your cutting patch these are the ones for you. Though there is lots of breeding going of these and there are some lovely colours and forms coming through. With many more muted pastel tones that are gorgeous. There are many dwarf varieties bred for bedding so take care when choosing varieties to grow. I am a big fan of rich, jewel shades and Zinnias are just perfect for that. They go great with Dahlias, Rudbeckias, Nicotiana and other later flowers.
They are half hardy annuals so are frost tender. They are not too hard to grow but there are a couple of things to note, they don’t like too much root disturbance and can sulk a bit if moved around too much and because of this its often recommended to direct sow but then that brings the second thing to note they are magnets for slugs who find them especially delicious! Having had big losses of them on my allotment in the past I tend to sow undercover but I sow into modules or straight into 9cm pots and grow them on a bit so they are a decent size before planting out after the frosts have passed. They are the one annual that I grow that really need a good sunny spot and don’t perform well in cool wet summers (which we often have!), many flower farmers grow them undercover in polytunnels. Obviously I’m growing on a much smaller scale, so they have priority for the sunniest spot in my garden. You can support them with some jute netting.
They really need pinching out once they get about 30cm tall this will encourage lots more flowering side shoots and ultimately longer stems, they will then flower right into early autumn just keep picking. There is a trick passed down amongst flower farmers for how to know when to cut them. Its called the wiggle test and is very reliable. Wiggle the stem and if its floppy then wait a bit longer before you pick, but if its stiff its ready to be cut. They then are pretty long lasting in a vase of 7-10 days.
There are four varieties available at Higgledy garden. Zinnia ‘Mammoth’ is a vibrant mix of large flowers, like this vibrant red.
Zinnia ‘Cactus’ is another variety with large flowers and long narrow quill-like petals, like this bright pink.
Zinnia ‘Envy’ is a must for those that love green flowers which are so unusual.
But my favourite is Zinnia ‘Purple Prince’ which performed amazingly for me last year.
I used them in lots of bouquets in August and September. Even the white ones looked great, here with Larkspur ‘Imperials’, Achillea ‘The Pearl’, white Origanum and Cynoglossum ‘Firmament’.
Zinnia ‘Purple Prince’ also went well with more pastel tones. Including Cosmos ‘Fizzy Rose’, Daucus carota ‘Dara’, Nicotiana ‘Starlight Dancer’, Lysimachia barystachys and Origanum.
But my favourite bouquet with Zinnias in was a truly vibrant mix. Which contains Zinnia ‘Mammoth’ and ‘Purple Prince’, Rudbeckia ‘Marmalade’, Larkspur ‘Imperials’, ‘Salvia ‘Oxford Blue‘, Tithonia ‘Torch’ and Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’.
Zinnia ‘Purple Prince’ is part of the Higgledy Sunglasses bundle which is a vibrant collection of annuals that we have put together for you.
They look great as floating flowers too!
Anyone else growing Zinnias this year? I sowed mine yesterday!
Higgledy Anne
(I’m on Instagram anne_hinks and on Twitter Anne Hinks if you fancy a follow)
This arrangement celebrates the Sweet rocket that was in abundance in late May and into June, here we have 
Sweet Rocket is one of the most reliable flowers in my cutting patch for May and June, its a biennial plant and now is the time for sowing your biennials. If you need more encouragement on this, do look at my recent 
This was one of my favourite arrangements so far this year which featured the rich dark almost black flowers of 
My autumn sown annuals are starting into flower, including some of my favourites the Cornflowers that I have written about recently in a blog post 
This posy features the fabulous 
A had a little patch in my garden with autumn sown Orlaya grandiflora and Candytuft ‘Crown’ and these have loved the sunny spot. It was my first time growing Candytuft and its a sweet little thing and seems very long flowering. 
So in this arrangement I used the Candytuft, with more Knautia ‘Melton Pastels’, Cornflower ‘Black Ball’, Sweet William ‘Nigricans’, Alchemilla mollis and Allium roseum.
Another unsung hero of the cutting patch now is 
Just look at the beautiful dotted lines down to the centre of the flower. And the buds are beautiful too.
It is the showstopper flower in this posy. 
Also contains Cornflower ‘Mauve Ball’, 
So yes the sweet peas are flowering in earnest now and I will be adding these to my bouquets, but also love picking that first big bunch.
So this month the Ranunculus have come out of their raised beds (I’m not throwing them away though, I’ve put them somewhere tucked away to die back and then I will dry them and plant them again next autumn) and the beds have been topped up with compost and replanted with Cosmos, Amaranthus, Didiscus, Phlox and Sunflowers. Still need to plant my Zinnias which seem to have done well this year. But nearly there and then everything will be in. Then just keeping an eye on slugs which after the dry spring when they seemed almost absent and back with avengeance now. But its nice to see why outdoor display getting filled with flowers again now.
Loving the pale blues and yellows in my cutting patch at the moment. Here I have the yellow wallflowers, 
I think I’ve got to the end of my seed sowing for summer annuals but I’m still busy pricking seedlings out and potting on if needed. There is a lot of greenhouse juggling and moving things around, lots came out with this current hot spell but I’m also ready to do some planting just preparing a new plot for them to go in. Lots to plant, including Calendula, Larkspur, Godetia, Cynoglossum and Cerinthe. Time for a little break from seed sowing until I sow my biennials in June. But the biennials sown last year are in their stride now, the wallflowers have been good, and I’ve used them a lot in my posies so far. The 
Now its Sweet Rocket time so looking forward to those. I’ve got both colours, 
There will be more information coming up in the next few weeks about sowing biennials!
The Ranunculus in my little home made polytunnel have been brilliant and I’m picking lots from those at the moment. I’m especially loving the oranges and reds with richer wallflowers like 
Seedlings are doing well, only a couple casualties to slugs so far. Sunflowers, Phlox and Cosmos on their way. 
Zinnias and Rudbeckias coming on too, but they will replace the autumn sown annuals when they are finished so plenty of time for them to get growing. I’m keeping an eye on my sweet peas, they are taking off now, but need to be kept tied in or encouraged to grow up your support. But maybe another few weeks for those. Keep them well watered in this dry spell as they like plenty of water and nutrients, I will start feeding them now too to keep them healthy and growing well.
I’m also back in love with my garden again, I have lots of spring flowering perennials in my garden, like Primulas, Pulmonaria, Corydalis and my favourite Pachyphragma macrophylla (a bit of a mouthful I know) a gorgeous white flowered perennial, which is semi-evergreen and seems to be thriving in a very difficult growing spot in my garden next to a conifer hedge. So a few flowers in a little vase is bringing me lots of joy.
First off Cosmos, you must all know by now how much I love Cosmos and I would recommend it for anyones cutting garden or even just in your borders its such a good doer! I wrote a blog celebrating them 
My absolute favourite is of course 
We have the sumptuous 
The always perfect 
And the fabulously frilly 
And of course 
Cosmos are tall and need some space in the cutting patch and definitely some support like some jute netting or just a simple cane. But they will flower their socks off until the first frosts, as long as you keep picking them for flowers or deadheading them. The bees will be happy too, they love Cosmos.
Then I’m also sowing the fabulous sunflowers, such cheery flowers and great to grow with children as the seeds are nice and large and easy to sow. They can be sown direct into the soil once the risk of frosts have passed in May/June. But I start mine off undercover in my unheated greenhouse, this is for two reasons, the first is that you can get a bit of a headstart and secondly you can protect them from slug damage. They are vulnerable to that so I like to get them to a reasonable size before I plant them out, potting them on into bigger pots if necessary. Once planted they will need staking especially the tall ones. 
Here a few that I grew last summer 
We also have 
Next on my list to sow are the Zinnias, those vibrant jewels of the cutting patch. Though every year I have a bit of a battle with the slugs with them, and last year was the worst. But fingers crossed for this year and they are worth persevering with as they add such zing to your bouquets.I sow them direct into modules as they don’t like too much disturbance and grow them on, like a did with the Sunflowers, until they are nice big robust plants. Then they will be more able to cope with any ravaging my slugs and snails and they are a favourite of these pesky molluscs so be warned and forearmed with maybe a beer pot for them to be attacted to. Or a good torch and go out in the evening and check over your plants and remove any of the critters. I also have used Strulch mulch on my Zinnia patch as this seems to protect them. Again plant them out after the frosts have passed. The other important thing to note is they need lots of sunshine to flower well so plant them in the sunniest spot in your garden. They will grow and flower but there is a tip for when best to pick them. So when they are looking ready waggle the stems, if they flop about they are not ready, leave a day or so, if they remain rigid stems then they are good to pick. I love 
But my favourite is 
So these are a few of the things that I’m sowing in April but there is lots that can be sown now, still time to sow sweet peas, with this warmth they will romp away. Keep them well watered in this dry spell though, they need lots of moisture. You can sow all the hardy annuals and the half hardy annuals now, I’ve had some success with direct sowing of many of these this month. Just browse the shop and see what brings a smile to your face. Sowing flowers from seed is such a lovely thing to do and now is the best time to do it, the sun is out and the soil is warm and things just want to grow.
Things are all abuzz in my cutting garden now, the autumn sown annuals are getting big and beefy now and I’ve been hardening them off from the greenhouse and getting ready to plant them. So that’s the Cornflowers, Echium ‘Blue Bedder’, Corncockle, Orlaya grandiflora, Candytuft ‘Crown’, Cerinthe, Salvia ‘Oxford Blue’, Papaver nudicale and Ammi visnaga. 
I’ve already planted some of the Ranunculus into a raised bed which is covered for protection and they are coming on nicely. 
I’m also preparing the ground for my autumn sown sweet peas. They are hungry plants so a nice big layer of manure will give them nutrients and also keep the moisture in the soil. I need to put up the bamboo support too which always takes longer than I think! I’ve pricked out some of the seeds I sowed in February, including Larkspur, Gaura, Knautia, Feverfew, Dahlias ‘Bishops Children’ and ‘Cactus, Snapdragon ‘Lucky Lips’ and a few Scabious including ‘Ping Pong’. 
The Biennials are starting to get growing now too, though I still need to plant my Campanula so need to get a shift on with that. I’ve had lots of self-seeded foxgloves and Forget-me-nots which have been moved around but getting them in their final locations now. But the Honesty, Sweet Rocket, Wallflowers and Sweet William I can see are just starting again into growth after a dormant winter. Excited for when they start flowering, in fact I don’t think it will be very long before the Wallflowers are out, they are usually the first into flower.
The perennial cutting patch is all cut back and mulched, this bed contains various Origanums, Geums, Sanguisorbas, Knautia, Chives and Astrantias. 
But its time to really kickstart the seed sowing season for me and I think this has got to be my favourite time of year. The process of seed sowing is just joyous and despite the fact that I’ve been sowing seeds for many years now I never fail to be excited by the first signs of germination. Its such a magic process, little brown dry seeds poked into a pot full of crumbly brown compost, add a sprinkling of water, wait a while and then the little green shoots poking up out of the soil is such a miraculous delight. So I start with some of the hardier annuals first though as its still early, but I do have a greenhouse to give them some protection. So I’m sowing some Calendula, Godetia, Chrysanthemum ‘Rainbow’, Statice, Amaranthus, Gypsophila, Daucus carota, Phacelia and Nigella. The last four I’m going to sow some in seed trays but also have a go at sowing some directly into the soil. I’m also going to do a first sowing of some Phlox and Rudbeckia which though are half hardy annuals have quite a long growing season, these will be put on my windowsill for some warmth for germination and kept protected until ready to plant out after the frosts. Others good for sowing now are other hardy annuals, Larkspur, Cornflowers, Corncockle, Ammi majus, Cerinthe, Borage, Briza, Eschscholzia, Echium, Phacelia, Painted Sage. Plus its still not too late to sow some sweet peas, still plenty of time for that.
Calendula’s are one of the first to be sown in the seed sowing year, I struggle to get them to survive from an autumn sowing but they are fast and just as good from a early spring sowing. I just adore 
And here with Dahlia ‘Bacardi’ and ‘Arabian Night’, with 
Nigella, another great one for sowing now, they definitely prefer direct sowing but they can be sown and pricked out quickly and potted on if you don’t have the space ready just yet. I especially partial to 
I also adore Phlox but they can be a little tricksy and slow to germinate and have a weird growing habit and need a bit of pinching out before you get good flowers for cutting. So I’m sowing a few now and will do another one in a few weeks time. Its a half hardy annual so needs protection from the frosts so it will be sown and put on my windowsill inside to germinate. I sow lots of these as I also use them in the big dustbins that I have my Dahlias in as underplanting so I can use plenty of these. There is a 
Just look at it here with 
And then here with Helianthus ‘Ruby Eclipse’ and Rudbeckia.
I also love 
And I’ll squeeze in a bit of Phlox ‘Cherry Caramel’!
Rudbeckia are another half hardy annual that I am going to sow some of now, they are tiny seeds and its pretty slow growing so want to give it a head start. 
It goes fabulously with bright blues and purples of 
But also with a mix of yellows in this arrangement.
I’m holding off from sowing most of my half hardy annuals, like Cosmos, Sunflowers, Zinnias to the end of the month or into April when its warmer and they will grow quick and fast and then be ready to plant out after the frosts.
Just to say though that this is the sowing routine that I seem to have got into in my garden here in the North of England. If you are further south you may want to do things differently and sow somethings earlier, likewise if you are further North you may want to hold off till April for many things. It also depends whether you have got space to protect your seedlings or whether you are planning on sowing directly. Experiment and see what works best for you. If you are not sure just have a go at sowing the more hardy annuals as suggested here and just sow a few seeds (I very rarely sow a full packet of seeds) see how they do if not try again later. But most of the hardy annuals that I’ve suggested here are robust and are reliable to germinate with a bit of warmth, good compost and a bit of care.
Here we have Ammi visnaga with 
Here with Helianthus ‘Ruby Eclipse’, Phlox ‘Creme Brulee’ and 
Here with Cosmos ‘Apricotta’, Lysimachia barystachys, white Oreganum and Sweet pea ‘Nimbus’.
Here we have it with 
Here with Orlaya grandiflora, Silene vulgaris and 
Here with 
Here is Daucus carota ‘Dara’ with Dahlia ‘Arabian Night’, 
Here it is with Cornflower ‘Black Ball’, Cynoglossum ‘Mystic Pink’, 
There are a number of small flowered annuals that make good filler like Gypsophila ‘Covent Garden’, the annual Phloxes, Omphalodes and Cynoglossum. Obviously there sometimes overlap in categories as these may also be used as supporting flowers. But the smaller flowers again add an airyness to your posies. 
Here it is with Oreganum, Cornflower ‘Black Ball’ and Cynoglossum ‘Mystic Pink’.
Another similar white flower is Omphalodes linifolia ‘Little Snow White’, this also has attractive glaucous stems and leaves. I discovered this a couple of years ago and love its delicate beauty. Sow in the spring, I sow undercover in trays and pot on and plant out once the frosts have passed. Again it needs space to grow with out being overwhelmed by other plants.
Here with Calendula ‘Indian Prince’ and Calendula ‘Sherbert Fizz’, Chrysanthemum ‘Rainbow’, Cornflower ‘Black Ball’, Orlaya grandiflora and Cerinthe.
I’m a big fan of the annual phloxes, especially Phlox ‘Creme Brulee’, I just love the intricate details of colours on the small flowers and the twisted flower buds that unravel to open. I use them as much as I can in my arrangements. I’ve written about them in more detail 
Here it is with Amberboa muricata, 
Here with Helianthus ‘Ruby Eclipse’ and Rudbeckia ‘Sahara.
Just a small posy of 
Cynoglossum, I grow a couple of varieties of this, one ‘Firmament’ is such a lovely clear fresh sky blue and the other ‘Mystic Pink’, which I think I love even more, is a soft pastel pink. For picking best to wait to till all the flowers are open up the stem and sear stems in boiling water first like for Cerinthe.
Here is Cynoglossum ‘Firmament’ with Nicotiana ‘Starlight Dancer’, Feverfew, white Oreganum and Salvia ‘Oxford Blue’.
Here is Cynoglossum ‘Mystic Pink ‘ with Zinnia ‘Purple Prince, 
Grasses make great fillers and add so much texture to your arrangements, there are a couple of annual grasses that I use a lot of and they are 
Some Briza with Cornflower ‘Blue Ball’ and Cornflower ‘Black Ball’, Orlaya grandiflora, Cerinthe and Silene vulgaris.
Panicum ‘Frosted Explosion’ or ‘Sprinkles’ is a bit of a wonder, it produces a fibre optic like cloud of flowers and is a must-have for your arrangements. I grow it in the big dustbins with my Dahlias and it froths around between the flowers but they are very good cut and come again flower so have plenty to pick too.
With Dahlia ‘Arabian Night’, Phlox ‘Creme Brulee’, Cosmos ‘Apricotta’ and Ammi visnaga.
Here it is with
Here it is with Orlaya grandiflora, Silene vulgaris and Cornflower ‘Blue Ball’.
Here it is with 
Here with Feverfew, Salvia ‘Oxford Blue’, Sweet pea ‘Nimbus’ and Echium ‘Blue Bedder’.
Here with 
Cynoglossom ‘Firmament’ a beautiful sea-like blue colour, also called the Chinese Forget-me-not, I love this flower and also the delicate pink form ‘Mystic Pink’. I sow this in the spring undercover and plant once the frosts have passed. Like Cerinthe it can be a bit floppy if the stems are not seared in boiling water first, for picking best to wait to till all the flowers are open up the stem. The seeds are sticky fellas and will stick all over you if you wait for them to set seed before cutting back.
Here with Salvia ‘Oxford Blue’, Feverfew, Nicotiana ‘Starlight Dancer’ and white Oreganum.
So there you go some of my favourite blues. Hopefully some colour to brighten your monday.
Well firstly grow what you love. I will always have a wigwam or teepee of Sweet peas as they are just one of my favourite flowers for cutting. These are a must have for me and I know that summer has arrived when I pick my first big bunch of Sweet peas. They are just the best for scent as far as I am concerned. Look at the colour range they are great for adding into your mixed bouquets too. More info on sweet peas 
So look through seed catalogues and have a browse of the 
Firstly there are the stars of the show, the focal flowers, these are things like Ranunculus, Tulips, Dahlias and Roses. Usually large flowers, bright and eye-catching. The showstoppers are the flowers that your eyes are drawn to the most in the bouquet. I don’t tend to use the really big flowers in my arrangements, I find them really tricky unless you really have lots of other flowers for scale. For example, I love the huge dinnerplate Dahlias like Cafe au lait but gosh I find them really tricky to arrange. They need to be in really big showstopper arrangements for weddings and events and thats not the feel that I’m going for. But by all means go for those if you want a super special arrangement. I tend to go for smaller flowered dahlias that are good to grow in containers and the flowers are easier to place in arrangements. Many of these showstopper flowers can be a bit more expensive to grow and so you may not have so many at a time but thats fine, a little goes a long way. Many would be an investment in your garden (but a good one) but I’d say you don’t need loads of them. There are also many annuals and biennials that can be real stars in your bouquet 
However you need a supporting cast and these tend to be a bit smaller but compliment the focal flowers, these can be daisy-like flowers of 
Finally there are the filler and foliage plants and flowers, these put their arms round the stars and the supporting cast and allow them to shine. Its a fine balance, you don’t want it to be too dominant but just bring out the best in them. Some can be a bit frothy and airy, you may want contrasting foliage colour or you may just want it to blend in and compliment the arrangement. The foliage really can seen as a base for the arrangement, a framework if you like into which you blend in the fillers, supporting and focal flowers. I’ll write a future blog in more detail about these filler flowers, but some of my favourites are 
I don’t profess to be an expert on this at all, I’m still very much learning about this all the time from my favourite flower growers and arrangers, like Georgie Newbery and Sarah Raven, and just from going out there and giving it a go. But just having this range of flowers in your cutting patch will help you get a beautiful balanced arrangement. It’s really just worth experimenting with what you have in your garden.
In this arrangement I just kept it very simple with 
Sometimes you just want a vase of just a single variety, this can be gorgeous, like this pot of Cornflowers.
Hopefully this have been helpful to get you thinking about what you might grow in your cutting patch. A few showstoppers to be the stars of your arrangements, some supporting flowers to mingle with the stars and some filler flowers to pull it all together. But ultimately just grow the flowers that you love!
But I actually feel refreshed and I’m starting to feel the excitement rising about the new growing year ahead. There is always that feeling of a fresh start, a clean slate, thats one of the things I love the most about gardening, its the cyclical nature, each year you start afresh. Its a chance to try new things, experiment a little, I love that. Maybe you want to start growing more cut flowers from home, start a little cutting patch or grow more pollinator friendly flowers. There is not much better than going out into your garden and picking a bouquet of flowers for the house, I get so much joy out of it. I can tell you for a fact they will be nicer than anything that you can buy from the supermarket and often will be very different from the blooms that you can buy at a florist.
Think about where you are going to grow your flowers, will you have a specific cutting patch, the advantage of having parts of your garden designated for cutting is that you don’t then worry about cutting them and taking flowers and thus some of the colour away from your garden. However you may not have room for a specific area but don’t let that stop you, you can still grow flowers for cutting. Just clear some gaps in your borders and sow directly or plant in some annual seedlings and they will soon take off. But do remember that most annuals need a sunny spot so bear this in mind, not too windswept a site and good well-drained but moist soil. The other alternative is to grow in pots or large containers and many annuals are suited to that, Ben has proved that with his amazing boat garden through the years, but you do have to make sure that you keep them well fed and watered. Not all annuals need super-rich soil but some like sweet peas espcially need good nutrient rich soil with plenty of water. I grow some of my Dahlias in big dustbins and they do brilliantly well.
I have a cutting patch (which seems to be expanding a bit each year!) which is composed of raised beds, each one is roughly 1m by 1.2m. If you are creating beds within borders just make sure they are not too wide, around 1m is ideal. You need to be able to reach in to the beds to cut your flowers. I’ve got quite a lot of trees in my garden so its not perfect as many are not in full, full sun but they all get some sun for some part of the day. You just have to work with what you have. Some annuals are more fussy than others, Zinnias especially need a good sunny spot to really flower well (or a very good summer!), I do have a couple of spots in my garden with full sun and I prioritise planting the Zinnias in these areas. You can start to prepare your patch for the growing season ahead as soon as the weather allows (my garden is covered in snow today). Clear any weeds, you don’t want any couch grass or the like smothering your annuals. You might need to add some organic matter to help improve drainage and give a bit of a boost to the soil. If you are growing particularly hungry plants like Dahlias and Sweet peas you can add some manure to boost the fertility and this also helps retain moisture too.
Then you need to think about how you will grow them, will you be sowing direct into your raised beds or will you sow into pots and trays and transplant them as young seedlings or plants into your cutting patch. The easiest option is to sow directly, you don’t need any equipment for that, just sow according the seed instructions. Here its important you know the difference between a hardy and half-hardy annual. Half-hardy annuals will be killed off by frosts so if you are sowing these directly they need to be sown after your last frosts. This will depend where you are in the country, but usually end of May beginning of July. Hardy annuals are a bit tougher and can be sown as soon as the soil is warm enough for germination. A good tip for knowing when the time is right is when you start seeing weed seeds germinating in your garden, if its good enough for them then it will be fine for your annuals. For more information about specific seed growing instructions see the 
I have to say timing is important, many people sow way to early, thats fine if you have space and means to protect them from the weather. You want your seeds to germinate quickly and grow smoothly and evenly without fits and starts, growth will be checked if it suddenly gets a cold. They not only need some warmth but they also need good light, they will become leggy otherwise. It can make them more vulnerable to pests. Better to wait till the conditions are right before you sow but if you can’t resist just sow a small amount and then you will see how they do and if they fail you can sow again when the conditions are better. A general rule of thumb if you have no protection, I would say, is April for hardy annuals (Ben always says wait for the spring solstice) and end of May into June for half hardies. 
Whether you sow directly or in pots you will need to also think about spacing of your final plants, some need a bit of space around them, others can jostle and mingle closely. Again more information for each plant is in the seed sowing 
Once you have really got into it you might think more about successional sowing so that you extend the cutting season of a particular flower. One of the easiest ways to do this for some annuals is to sow some in the autumn and then again in spring. Growing biennials (such as Sweet Rocket, Wallflowers, Sweet William, Foxgloves and Honesty) is another way to extend the season as they tend to flower in the spring and fill that gap before your spring or autumn sown annuals get going. Biennials are sown in May/June for flowering around that time a year later. More information on growing biennials can be found 
Its not all about the annuals and biennials though I would say they are the workhorse of your cutting patch especially if you grow truly cut and come again varieties, but so many perennials make great cut flowers. Asters, Rudbeckias, Sanguisorba, Alchemilla, Geums, Feverfew, Leucanthemum and Knautia are just some of the perennials that are good for cut flowers and they come back every year. Many of these you can grow from seed including the amazing Dahlias like ‘Bishops Children’. I have a raised bed full of great perennials for cutting and also am forever foraging from my borders. These really add something unique to your bouquets. Once you really get addicted to it, you might grow some bulbs like tulips or Narcissus to extend your season into spring. For foliage having access to some shrubs can be really useful too. Can I say that word again just get out there and experiment, its what gardening is all about.
But lets not completely over complicate things if you are just getting started. Just start with some annuals and I can almost guarantee you will get hooked. A simple cutting patch could perhaps have a wigwam of Sweet peas in the middle and some easy hardy annuals on one side, say a row each Cornflowers, Cerinthe and Nigella. On the other side a row of Cosmos and maybe some Ammi and Calendula. This would be a simple starting point but really the sky is the limit. I would recommend though trying a few different varieties, then if say one gets eaten by slugs you still have others to cut from and you want a bit of a mixture for your posies. Slugs can be a bit of a challenge (they were a right pain in the **** last year), I won’t use slug pellets as I have cats and hedgehogs in my garden so slug patrols are crucial especially when they are first planted or newly sown. Because I tend to sow my annuals undercover I grow them on till they are a decent size for planting out, they are sturdier and more likely to survive a small amount being nibbled by slugs.
Hope this is all useful advice, just a few things to think about if you are looking to create your own cutting patch but I just urge you to get started and give it a go, there are lots of blogs here to help you along. There will be more blogs coming up on choosing your plants and for seed sowing but now is the time to just dream and start planning your summer garden.
You hear about people who won’t have a particular colour in their garden, usually yellow or orange. But yellow is the colour of spring to me, how can you not have cheery daffodils to light up your garden after the long winter. Its also a big colour for late summer with sunflowers and Rudbeckias bringing a vibrancy to the garden. For oranges I think about the beautiful Geums, that fabulous late spring flowering perennial that are the stars in my garden in May and June. Or the vibrant orange of Calendula ‘Indian Prince’.
Some people go for colour themed gardens or borders, often a very tasteful white garden which do look very romantic and beautiful like the one at Sissinghurst. Or maybe go for a hot border with vibrant colours of yellow, orange and red. I do love these and a great example are the borders leading you in to the Paradise garden at RHS Bridgewater, one of my favourite parts of the garden. Personally my garden is a bit of a mixture I love plants so much that I’m always trying to squeeze more in and sometimes the colour schemes tend to get thrown out of the window.
When I first started growing annuals as cut flowers I was so inspired by Sarah Raven and her book Grow your own cut flowers. That book with the vibrant acid green and pink cover was what started me off growing flowers for cutting on my allotment. 
There are definite colour trends that are found in fashion, interior design and floristry, I can’t pretend to know anything about the current vibes in fashion and I think the recent fad for all things grey in interior design is fading (personally I’ve always loved a house full of colour and as soon as I moved into my current house, that was painted throughout in Magnolia, the paint pots came out and colour now drenches the walls). But it feels to me that the current colour scheme most loved by flowery folks are more antiquey shades, peachy apricot, dusky pinks, lilacy grey, beige almost. This is highlighted by the popularity of varieties such as 
I have succumbed to many of these beauties and my arrangements have leaned more to these tones in the last couple of years but I also always have plenty of other colours in my cutting garden and I do still love vibrant shades of acid greens, blues and oranges. Here we have the dark purple 
So when it comes to making floral arrangements colour is one of the crucial things for me. I love the process of combining different colours, thinking about what goes well together. It’s important to combine different flower shapes and textures but I think for me colour is the key. It determines the feel of the arrangement.
Here we have a lovely pastel mix, big on Cornflowers, 
Alternatively you may want a vibrant, invigorating colour mix, here you might pick more contrasting colours, often hotter colours. 
Here we have zingy mix of 
You might start with your key flower in your arrangement and build up from that. I had the first flowers of my favourite rose ‘Munstead Wood’ and wanted to celebrate them.
So I combined with some pink 
Sometimes it might not be the flower petals that are the focus in the colour combination but sometimes it might be the buds that pick out the petals on another flower or central boss of the flower might be the key to the colour combination. The Sunflower ‘Ruby Eclipse’ and ‘Summer Lovin’ both have a dark red halo in the centre of the flower which goes perfectly with
The foliage is also a key part of the colour combination. I especially love Physocarpus as foliage and ‘Diablo’ is a stunning dark leafed form. Here its combined with vivid dark pink of Ranunculus and Cytisus ‘Boskoop Ruby’, some stems of honeysuckle that are blushed in pink, with splashes of white from Allium cowanii.
You might want to use shades of one colour. Like shades of yellow here from 
My arrangements are all seasonal and sometimes that drives the colours, so more pale yellows and blues in spring. Here the beautiful white flowers of Narcissus ‘Thalia’ and pale yellow ‘Minnow’ look delightful with 
Then more warmer hot colours in the autumn. Here we have Sunflower ‘Ruby Eclipse’ and 
Finally a little monochrome combination using 
But sometimes you still can’t beat the simplicity of a big mixed bunch of sweet peas!
But though things are slowing down autumn is also an important time for planning for next year, I have already sown some
But it is also a good time to look back and see how things have been whilst its all fresh in your mind is there anything that you wouldn’t grow again or on the flip side what was the real star this year. It has been a very challenging weather year, a very prolonged cold spring which was also very wet. A soggy, grey summer with not a huge amount of sunshine and not even a real respite of the weather in the autumn which has also been very beset by heavy downpours. And then 2024 has got to be crowned the year of the slug oh my goodness they have been everywhere and it has really been a bit of a battle. Some flowers have not fared well, those that like sunshine and warmth have struggled in my garden, most notably the Zinnias which in previous years have been good. Every year I try and find a more sunny spot for them but where I put them this year is now a bit shaded by a beech hedge so will try again next year. But other things like Sweet peas have loved this cool damp weather and flowered so much longer than in previous years. Its fair to say in gardening that you win some and you lose some, which is why its good to grow a bit of a variety of things. However, despite everything the weather has thrown at us, I’ve still had a colourful cutting batch and plenty to cut and arrange.
I’ve just been helping design a cut flower garden and its made me think about the varieties that are very reliable. There are a number of annuals that are just a bit more bomb-proof than others and these are varieties that I just love to grow every year. 
Another annual I’ve still been picking late into October is 
Cornflowers for me are just perfect for a cutting garden. They are such reliable flowers, come in a lovely range of colours from pure blue (
For a bit of froth then you can’t beat 
One annual that has really surprised me over the last couple of years as to how reliable it is, is 
Finally no cut flower garden of mine is complete without Cosmos, they are just one of the best for sheer volume of flowers per plant and for a mighty cut and come again crop. Mine got a little bit nibbled this year by slugs which is unusual but once established they grow big and have such a presence in the garden or cut flower patch. They are also pretty drought tolerant too (I know that hasn’t been relevant this year!). As most people know I love 
So those are just a few of my favourite more resilient and reliable annual flowers, but there are other things that we can do to make the plants a bit more resilient. Well in terms of slugs, one thing is to grow your plants on a bit to a decent size before planting out in your garden. I tend to sow most things in pots or trays rather than sowing directly into the soil. This is more because I’ve only got a fairly small plot and just grow a few plants of lots of things so I can control things better if growing in pots. Slotting new things in as some things go over. I will prick them out individually into pots and get them growing well and well rooted before planting. Especially things like Zinnias and Sunflowers that are slug magnets in bad years. The stronger and healthier the plant the more likely it is to withstand any slug or pest damage. But it also pays to be vigilent on first planting and going out on slug patrols in the evening and removing any pesky critters to the compost heap or how ever you choose to despatch these creatures. Use good peat-free compost for sowing and potting on and keep them weed free especially once planted in the garden. They don’t want competition for growing space or nutrients. I have used Strulch a bit this year to mulch the raised beds, this keeps in moisture, suppresses weeds and also protects your young plants from slugs.
There are also plenty of varieties that are good and reliable for sowing directly, such as Calendula, Borage, Nigella, Daucus carota, Eschscholzia, Briza maxima and Nasturtiums. Ben sows lots of his directly and has great success. If you are sowing directly, here is a 
Another blue posy with another new arrival this month which is the Larkspur, here is 
Take note though you musn’t forget about your biennials, I sowed mine at the beginning of the month, have pricked out the Wallflowers, Sweet rocket and Honesty they are growing well now. But I’m a bit behind in pricking out the Foxgloves and Sweet William so must get those done. The important thing is you need to make sure they don’t dry out, thankfully with all this rain they are still being watered most of the time.
My sweet peas have been really slow to flower, they have nice long stems but the first flowers were mostly single flowers and I’ve had a few where the buds had dropped off. This is due to cold night time temperatures but hopefully this is past now and they seem to be flowering away now.The trick now is to keep them well watered and fed and most importantly keep picking them.
I think its fair to say its been a challenging year for annuals expecially ones that are a bit more susceptible to slugs as they have been celebrating the cool wet weather and there seems to have been a population explosion and that’s just in my garden. Zinnias have been the worst affected for me and despite getting mine potted on into 11cm pots they have still taken a bit of a hammering and they have sulked a bit in this cool weather. I’m not joking when I say the temperature got down to 7 degrees C in my greenhouse on the 13th June. I have just mulched the raised bed with Strulch which I’ve found is great for detering them a bit. They ate nearly all the Zinnia ‘Envy’ so that was resown quite late but fair to say its catching up now and hoping to get them planted soon. They have also chomped all my Chrysanthemum ‘Rainbow’ so I’ve given up on these for this year. The positive thing it also highlights plants that are much more resilient in the cutting garden. The Salvia ‘Oxford Blue’ has hardly been touched, neither the Statice, Godetia, Nicotiana, Calendula and Larkspur.
But really coming into their own now are the autumn sown annuals and I’ve come to appreciate these more and more in my cutting garden as it really spreads out the work of sowing and you get flowers much earlier than the spring sown ones. I’m still learning about what works for me in terms of getting through the winter but two real stalwarts that are flowering in abundance now are Cornflowers and Corncockle. They don’t seem at all fazed by any winter cold and you get fabulous tall plants too. For the Cornflowers I’ve sown a few different colours of them this year I do love the classic ‘Blue Ball’ and ‘Black Ball’, but also one called ‘Mauve Ball’ which goes perfectly with sweet rocket, Hesperis Purple and also the lilac Canterbury bells that both flower at the same time and are a staple of my bouquets in June. I’ve also loved the very pale pink form. I’m using them in all my arrangements at the moment.
This year I sowed a new Corncockle called ‘Bianca’ its a white form and is really striking with larger flowers than the wild form. But I have to say I still really love the wild form the pink flowers are gorgeous and the buds are lovely and wafty. I pick low down so that I get a mix of flowers and buds still to come.
So talking of biennials, have you sown yours yet. I’ve sown mine now and I’m looking forward to lots more beautiful blooms next year. It’s not too late to sow yet, anytime till the end of July is fine. Have a look at the brilliant biennial 
There are two main ways of sowing seeds, the first option is that you can sow directly into the area that you want them to grow. Here you should prepare the bed by clearing any weeds and raking over so that the soil is nice and loose and friable (posh word for crumbly and light!). Then you can either broadcast sow, this is where you sow seed over the whole area, or you can sow in rows. The advantage of sowing in rows is you can spot any weed seeds that germinate in between the rows and can confidently remove them and not risk weeding out your precious seedlings! You are best to sow more seeds than you need and thin out to the number that you want and the spacings that are appropriate to the plants. You need to keep the area well watered and watch out for slugs and snails.
The other option is that you can sow them in seed trays or pots, let them germinate, prick the seedlings out into larger pots and plant out a more established plant. This often gives you more control on what you grow. I tend to sow slightly more than I need but once germinated just pot up the healthy seedlings and grow them on so that when you come to plant in the final positions you have good sized plants. You can often protect them more from slugs and snails too. At this time of year you don’t need a greenhouse for this you can just grow them outside. On the whole I tend to take the second approach but now that its warmer some things definitely prefer the direct sowing approach.
There are two fabulous Cosmos in this bundle (
But there you go, all are nice and easy and its worth saying that all of these will grow very well in containers too, if growing in the ground you can grow in nice neat rows or you can merge them all together to get a lovely Higgledy mix. You can add amongst the other plants in your borders or grow them in dedicated cutting beds. Just give them a go and you will have flowers for the bees and for you all summer.