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A bouquet of fresh-cut flowers livens up a room, and when these are from your own garden, it makes it that much more meaningful!When planning your cut flower garden in Arkansas, consider growing plants that bloom continuously so that they'll still produce even after you harvest some to bring indoors. Some flowers are known for their beautiful fragrance, which can act as a natural air freshener when brought indoors! (However, if you're sensitive to smells, we recommend opting for fragrance-free varieties.)
Incorporate different shapes, colors, and heights in your cutting garden to make for more impactful arrangements. You'll want to have a mix of bold blooms as focal points, plants with wispy blooms to use as fillers, and foliage plants to pull your bouquets together.Here are some of the best cut flowers to grow — whether you plant them all or plant just a few, people will be in awe of your picture-perfect arrangements!
Classic Peonies provide a classic-yet-timeless look to any room in your home. They have big, round blooms available in a rainbow of colors and stay fresh inside about a week after cutting. Use as a focal point in an arrangement or fill an entire vase with peonies. They are known for their fragrance, though some varieties don't smell. Harvest long stems in the morning when the buds are still slightly closed — they'll open up when brought inside.
With a long vase life—up to two weeks!—these are great in a small cutting garden. Plus, not only do you get big, beautiful trumpet-shaped flowers in a range of tropical colors, but you also get elegant foliage that will add continuous color to your garden and your cut arrangements! For the longest-lasting Calla Lilies, pick them the day the flowers open.
These are the plants that keep on giving. The more you harvest them, the more they will bloom again! Meanwhile, in your garden, these delicate flowers attract pollinators like crazy. They come in various colors, which means you can match your Cosmos to any color scheme you have in your cutting garden. Pick long stems for your bouquets right when the blossoms start to open. Even when a couple of blossoms wilt, the other buds will continue blooming, making for longer vase life.
Add some serious height to your arrangements with Delphiniums! Their showy flowered spikes, in blue, pink, purple, or white, last about a week after being harvested. Pick them at ground level when the first two or three flowers along the spike open up.
Lavender is an excellent plant for filling every vase in your home, thanks to its famously soothing scent. The upright flower spikes and silvery-green foliage on this compact shrub can help round out your floral arrangements. Plus, you can use them in either fresh or dried arrangements, or even use the dried blooms to make scented sachets. Harvest when a few buds along the stem have bloomed.
Lasting up to three weeks in floral arrangements, eucalyptus has silvery-blue foliage with rounded leaves that add shape and texture to your bouquets. It's a trendy and versatile evergreen that works well in various arrangements, whether you're going for a more formal look or a casual one. Eucalyptus gives off a fresh and relaxing fragrance.
