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Sourcing your plants

A great deal of the success of your cutting garden comes from the planning and preparation you put in, not only in terms of your site and soil, your choice and combination of flowers and foliage, and the planting plans, but also in terms of sourcing your plants. A well-considered cutting garden allows you to order what you want at the right time of the year so you avoid those knee-jerk, impulsive (and expensive) buys. You’ll end up getting much better value for your money, and your plants will get off to a flying start.

GROWING FROM SEED

I start most of my annuals and biennials from seed. Many are easy to grow, and there’s a million and one different varieties to choose from, which allows you to try new things each year. It also helps keep the cost down – seeds are cheap. You’ll often see annuals on sale potted up as “garden-ready” plants later in the season for the same price as a few packets of seed that provide hundreds of plants. It makes sense to grow your own. It’s totally possible, even if you don’t have a greenhouse and you’re a complete beginner.

Most of my seed sowing happens in early spring – the busy period for gardeners, with smaller batches occurring in midsummer and autumn. There’s lots more detail on this later (see pages 44–59). If I need a large number of a perennial plants, I’ll grow those from seed, too – it’s exactly the same principle as for annuals and biennials, although some need a little more care and attention.

BUYING SEEDLINGS

These can be very useful if you’ve mistimed your sowings. I’ll often put off sowing biennials in midsummer when there’s so much else going on, a week goes by, then two, then a month – before I know it, I’ve missed the opportunity entirely. An online order of baby-sized biennial plants for transplanting out in autumn can save the day.

ORDERING BARE-ROOT PLANTS

Before the invention of the plastic pot, many more plants used to be bought this way. The plants are delivered in their dormant period in winter, without soil. You may take one look at these unpromising bare sticks and naked roots and think nothing will ever come of them, but they will come back to life in spring – they’re just having a bit of downtime. Bare-root plants are a great way to source unusual varieties of many flowering plants, including roses, peonies, and dahlias, and it’s cost-effective, too. The window for bare-root plants is normally from winter to very early spring, and each plant will need to be put in soil straight way, weather permitting.

BUYING BULBS

The best way to source your bulbs, corms, and tubers is to buy them when dormant or dry, as you pay a premium for them potted up and already in growth. Spring-flowering bulbs get planted from the beginning to the end of autumn; summer- and autumn-flowering types go in during spring. You want to get your order in a couple of months before planting time to ensure you get the varieties you’re after. I prefer to buy bulbs online from reputable suppliers as I know they will be stored in the correct conditions, instead of in a heated shop floor of a garden center. Online supplies also offer so much more choice in terms of varieties.

Dahlia cuttings bought from a specialist grower online – they will be flowering within a few months.

A trolley of nursery-grown shrubs and perennials to expand my cutting garden includes ninebark, coral bells, and Japanese anemones.

POTTED PLANTS

This is the most expensive way to source your cut flower material, but someone else has done the sowing, nurturing, and tending for you. I’ll sometimes buy perennials in pots if they’re a type that I can’t give the time and attention they need to grow from seed, or if I don’t require masses and I want to save myself some hassle. It’s also a good idea to buy shrubs as medium or large potted plants so you aren’t waiting forever to harvest from them – hydrangeas, viburnums, and ninebark all fall into this category for me. Potted plants are available year-round.

BUILDING UP STOCK

If you have the time, propagating your own plants is a fantastic way of building up stock for your garden, especially for the more expensive ones. You can do this by taking stem or root cuttings, dividing plants, or growing from saved seed – it’s so rewarding and, of course, it’s free. I love it when a friend gives me a cutting and there’s a story behind a plant in my garden. I sometimes buy plants specifically to use for propagating. You’ll be able to take multiple cuttings from one plant and still have the mother plant afterwards. There’s no great skill involved, but a little patience is required. (See How to Take Cuttings of Scented Geraniums, page 202.)

Cuttings from my friend Marion – my favorite sort of present.

A bare-root dahlia looks unpromising, but it will be pumping out blooms within a few months.

Gladioli corms.

GET TO KNOW YOUR PLANTS

ANNUALS & BIENNIALS

An annual completes its life cycle by germinating, growing, flowering, setting seed, and dying within the space of a year. Split into hardy and half-hardy, the former can tolerate frost, whereas half-hardy annuals can be planted out in your garden once there is little risk of frost.

Biennials complete their life cycle within two years: germinating and putting on foliage growth in the first year and then flowering, setting seed, and dying in the second. They are generally hardy plants that tolerate frost as they have to overwinter in the garden in their first year. They are started from seed in the midsummer of their first year and then flower in late spring of their second. Examples include foxgloves, sweet williams, and honesty.

BULBS

A term often used to cover corms, rhizomes, and tubers as well as true bulbs. All are self-contained – storing enough food and nourishment within themselves to survive until the next season and flower. Generally, they are planted in spring or autumn. Some can be left in the ground where they will naturalize, spread, and come up each year, while others are lifted and dried after flowering and replanted for the following season, and the process repeated. There are also some that are treated as one-hit wonders – pulled up and discarded after they flower. Tulips, daffodils, and ornamental onions are all bulbs.

PERENNIALS

These are non-woody plants that live for many years, getting bigger and better each year. They have stems that remain above the ground during winter. Some are “short-lived’” and may last for only a few years. Many perennials are relatively easy to grow from seed and may even flower in their first year. In general, their cutting season is between early summer and the end of autumn.

HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS

These differ in that all stems die back in late autumn or early winter. The roots remain under the soil in winter and then the stems reshoot in spring.

SHRUBS

Shrubs are evergreen or deciduous plants that have a woody framework that persists above the ground through winter. They differ from trees in that they are multistemmed, rather than single stemmed like a tree. Once they are established, they provide an abundance of cutting material. Hydrangeas, viburnums, and roses are all shrubs.

CLIMBERS

True climbers have a natural climbing habit – some even self-cling. They generally take up very little ground space and are an interesting addition to the cutting garden. Clematis, honeysuckle, and some roses are all examples of climbers.

Seedlings have been hardened off in the cold frames and are now ready to be planted out in the garden.

Snapdragons and nasturtiums in one of the raised beds with salvia and pincushion flower in the bed behind.