If you’d rather pick stems from your own garden than buy them from a florist, the Royal Horticultural Society’s practical guide to growing cut flowers is a great starting point. The central idea is simple: plan so you can harvest reliably — either by adapting existing borders to supply regular stems or by creating a dedicated cutting garden designed for succession, ease of access and strong, straight stems.
What the guide covers
– Scope: hands-on, home-gardening advice for growing flowers to cut for bouquets and arrangements. It covers site choice, soil and feeding, garden and bed layout, supports, propagation and seasonal plant selection.
– Plant groups: bulbs, annuals, biennials, perennials, shrubs, trees and climbers are all useful for cutting. The RHS lists and categorises many suitable species and cultivars to help planning (each entry is labelled by type: A = annual, Bu = bulb/corm, Bi = biennial, P = perennial, C = climber, S = shrub, etc.).
Design and practical layout
– Adapt existing borders: use larger drifts or groups of annuals and add bulbs and perennials where possible. Combine flowering stems with shrubs and ornamental grasses for foliage, shape and structure.
– Cutting garden layout: if you have the space, set aside a dedicated area and plant in rows. Rows make sowing, weeding, staking and harvesting easier; leave access paths between rows and avoid overcrowding to prevent tangling and stem damage.
– Supports and site selection: taller cut flowers typically need robust staking and are less happy on exposed, windy sites. A predominantly sunny aspect is recommended although a few cut-flower plants tolerate shade.
Soil, water and feeding
– Improve soil structure and moisture-holding capacity by adding organic matter annually — the guide suggests about one to two bucketfuls per square metre.
– Mulch (around 5–7.5 cm) to suppress weeds and conserve moisture.
– Watering during dry spells is important for achieving good stem length. Regular, moderate feeding encourages abundant flowering; the RHS gives an example of using a general fertiliser (for example Growmore) at an appropriate application rate.
Propagation and plant care
– Annuals: direct-sow outdoors or raise half‑hardy annuals under cover to get an earlier crop.
– Perennials: sow seed or divide established clumps in spring or early autumn; some can be increased from basal or root cuttings.
– Shrubs and climbers: increase by softwood, semi-ripe or hardwood cuttings, or by layering.
– Bulbs/corms: plant a sequence of early, mid and late cultivars to extend the picking season and consider forcing some bulbs for mid-winter indoor flowers. Note the guide warns that some bulbs may not perform well in subsequent years and may need replanting.
Seasonal planning — examples from the guide
– Spring: tulips, daffodils, magnolias, hyacinths.
– Late spring / early summer: delphiniums, peonies, foxgloves, nigella.
– Summer: sunflowers, cosmos, zinnias, alstroemeria, roses.
– Late summer / autumn: chrysanthemums, asters, crocosmia, dahlias.
Include foliage plants such as eucalyptus, ruscus and pittosporum (and ornamental grasses) to add texture and year‑round interest to bouquets.
Maximising harvests and extending the season
– Plant a succession of varieties and stagger sowings to keep stems coming over a long season.
– Use bulbs of different flowering times and plan for staged plantings.
– Keep simple records of what performs well and where you sourced seed or plants — this makes each season easier to plan.
– If you value ornamental displays, avoid over‑harvesting from showy beds; either dedicate areas for cutting or plant bulbs/rows specifically intended for harvest.
What the guide does not provide
– The RHS page does not show a precise publication or last-updated date (it is authored “By The RHS Advice Team” and carries a © 2026 footer). It is written in a UK horticultural context and does not give region‑specific planting calendars or tailored advice for non‑temperate climates (for example tropical zones). It also does not provide detailed post‑harvest vase-care recipes, commercial-scale economics or cultivar-specific yield data — it is focused on home gardeners.
Further reading and tools
– The guide suggests additional resources (for example Sarah Raven’s The Cutting Garden) and links to other RHS content and the RHS Grow app for more information and planning tools.
If you’re setting up to grow cut flowers, the RHS guide is a compact, practical blueprint: choose the right site, improve soil and water reliably, plant for succession and use rows and supports to make harvesting straightforward. Combine flowers with foliage for better arrangements, keep notes, and plan bulbs and annuals so your vases are never empty.
Leave a Reply