I’ll be honest, it was only recently that I learned what the term “cut flower garden” meant and now I’m determined to create one of my own. I was amazed by the power of vertical gardening and now I’m excited to integrate cut flower garden spaces around the bungalow.
I shared in a previous post three binge-worthy shows that inspire my desire to develop our homestead. One of those shows is a four-part documentary “Growing Floret,” a show about a Washington-based flower seed farm that grows flowers just to cultivate the seeds.
Upon binging the show, I immediately ordered their book, “Cut Flower Garden,” and started following their story on social media.
I mean….. c’mon. Just look at some of their Instagram photos…. ?
The documentary beautifully weaves the founder’s humbling journey into the story. But it also majorly inspired me to look into planting our very own cut flower garden. We do live on Flower Street, after all. And This is The Flower Bungalow.
What is a cut flower garden?
A cut flower garden is exactly like it sounds — it’s a garden of flowers grown with the intention of clipping flower stems for use off of the plant. While the name might seem obvious, there were some key points that stuck with me.
- Some flower varieties are bred to be cut flowers, while others don’t do well as a cut flower.
- Cut flowers reward you with more flowers, the more you clip them.
- Some varieties are self-seeding at the end of their growing cycle and will come back year after year!
- Certain flowers need to be directly sown into the ground, while others prefer to be transplanted.
- A lot of growers practice “pinching” off the first sign of flowers to encourage the stalk to grow bigger.
- Depending on the flower, some can be started from either seed, corm, tubers or bulbs. The last 3 types multiply after growing and can be dug up and reused the following season!
- With the right microclimate, just about anything can be grown here in Phoenix. ?
This is an entirely new and exciting world for me, so I’ll be sure to share more as things progress! But in the meantime, I’ll tell you about the two new spaces I am cultivating into cut flower gardens.
Two new spaces — one dream
I recently prepared two spaces to grow flowers, one in the front yard and one in the back. While I have dreams of cultivating every inch of our massive yard into a productive urban garden, I had to step back and start small-ish.
Front yard flower garden
The first space is in front of our bedroom window, along the front exterior side of our beehive fireplace. We are so fortunate that this beauty is quite literally the cornerstone of our home. We get to enjoy it from three different angles, which I love.
There was an existing bed of pebble rocks in this location, so I decided to cover it with soil and prep it for flowers. The flowers are a little slow to get going as this location doesn’t get direct light at the moment. Oddly, the most light it gets is the sun rays bouncing off of our neighbor’s stark white home across the street.
While I’m curious to see if this works, I’m hopeful because our neighbor next door has a beautiful flower garden relatively in the same spot. So far I have little seedlings going and I can’t wait to see if they develop properly!
Back yard cut flower garden
Along the backside of our house there was an awkward sometimes dirt patch, sometimes grass (depending on recent rains) that went in between the house and a walkway. I’m sure I was avoiding actual life responsibilities when I got a wild hair.
Stacked in the corner of our yard, collecting dust, were some vintage pavers from some of our home’s original brickwork. So I got to work loading them up on a wagon and dragging them over to their new home. A few days of work and trips to the nursery later, I had a freshly prepped garden bed ready for flower action.
I wanted to be thoughtful about the placement of the flowers depending on their water and light requirements, so over the next couple of days, I monitored the sunlight throughout the day. I observed that, in this location, the sunlight goes in and out of direct line with the garden due to our pecan tree.
I also began sketching a plot on a sheet of paper. (I don’t sketch typically but maybe I will now!)
The future of the bungalow is full of flowers
While growing these flowers is a great lesson in horticulture and most of all, patience, I am really enjoying this process. In my free time, I’ve quite literally been studying these things. I will definitely keep you updated on how it all goes! And if you’re an expert on this topic, please share your favorite cut flowers with me in the comments below!
