CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Cutting flowers from the garden is one of the most fulfilling tasks of spring and summer. I just love to walk around with my sharp shears, snipping blossoms to fill vases in the house.
I've passed along tips for the best cut flowers, but every year I get questions, so I'll pass along some hints to make your bouquets last.
From "The Gardener's Workshop":
Use containers that are clean enough to drink from.
Take water conditioned with flower food to the garden. The first drink of water is critical.
Harvest in the morning after the dew has dried. If that's not possible, cut in late evening.
Use sharp bypass shears for harvesting.
Allow flowers to recover from harvesting by sitting in a cool spot for a few hours before arranging.
Leave only the foliage that contributes to the bouquet. This lightens the load on the stem. Stripping all foliage from the stem normally means leaving only the top two leaves. This increases vase life by days.
Change out your water every few days and trim the stems one-half to one inch.
If your bouquet includes fragrant foliage, be sure to give it a rustle from time to time to get that fragrance filling the house.
A great flower for cutting is the strawflower, also known as paper daisy (Bracteantha bracteata and Helichrysum bracteatum). Typically grown as an annual (hardy in Zones 9 to 11), it grows 3 to 4 feet tall in full sun.
These bloom in red, orange, yellow and pink varieties, and they dry beautifully so you can enjoy them all winter long. They come in a range of heights and the papery petals are actually bracts, surrounding a central corolla. Easy to grow and easy to care for, this flower's only negative is that it is slightly vulnerable to downy mildew. It's easy to grow from seed. Tall cultivars may need to be staked.
If you plan to dry strawflowers, pick them on a dry, sunny day before they are fully open. They will continue to unfold as they dry.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Cutting flowers from the garden is one of the most fulfilling tasks of spring and summer. I just love to walk around with my sharp shears, snipping blossoms to fill vases in the house.
I've passed along tips for the best cut flowers, but every year I get questions, so I'll pass along some hints to make your bouquets last.
From "The Gardener's Workshop":
Use containers that are clean enough to drink from.Take water conditioned with flower food to the garden. The first drink of water is critical.Harvest in the morning after the dew has dried. If that's not possible, cut in late evening.Use sharp bypass shears for harvesting.Allow flowers to recover from harvesting by sitting in a cool spot for a few hours before arranging.Leave only the foliage that contributes to the bouquet. This lightens the load on the stem. Stripping all foliage from the stem normally means leaving only the top two leaves. This increases vase life by days.Change out your water every few days and trim the stems one-half to one inch.If your bouquet includes fragrant foliage, be sure to give it a rustle from time to time to get that fragrance filling the house.A great flower for cutting is the strawflower, also known as paper daisy (Bracteantha bracteata and Helichrysum bracteatum). Typically grown as an annual (hardy in Zones 9 to 11), it grows 3 to 4 feet tall in full sun.
These bloom in red, orange, yellow and pink varieties, and they dry beautifully so you can enjoy them all winter long. They come in a range of heights and the papery petals are actually bracts, surrounding a central corolla. Easy to grow and easy to care for, this flower's only negative is that it is slightly vulnerable to downy mildew. It's easy to grow from seed. Tall cultivars may need to be staked.
If you plan to dry strawflowers, pick them on a dry, sunny day before they are fully open. They will continue to unfold as they dry.
I mix these with my yarrow, which also dries beautifully, and use them in my fall wreaths.
Some suggested cultivars include:
The Bright Bikinis series, which come in a mix of colors: red, orange, pink, yellow and white. Blooms are 2 inches across; plants are 12 to 14 inches tall.Monstrosum series cultivars are tall with large double flowers. Many colors.StrawBurst Yellow (B. bracteata'Stabur Yel') has large yellow flower heads. Grows 12 to 14 inches tall.The seeds are widely available, and last summer I saw the plants at several local garden centers. Here are some online sources:
Burpee, Warminster, Pa., 800-333-5808, www.burpee.comSwallowtail Garden Seeds, Santa Rosa, Calif., 707-538-3585, www.swallowtailgardenseeds.comArranging trick
I've found a really neat new tool in the flower-arranging arsenal: flower floats. These cork rings hold flowers like magnolias and camellias up in a bowl of water so they won't tip or sink. A package of four rings in various sizes is $5.75 and they are reusable. Visit www.shoptgw.com.
Rose tips
Lynda Grass, in a column in the Charleston Rose Society's newsletter, Ramblin' Rose, gives this tip to fight powdery mildew on rosebushes:
"We've had a number of foggy mornings of late, and have already noticed powdery mildew on some of our bushes. ... Steven has had good luck with what he calls 'Monica's potion' of 1 tablespoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon Crisco oil, and 1 tablespoon Dawn dishwashing liquid in 1 gallon of water. Spray on affected areas and, like magic, the powdery mildew will disappear. Monica Valentovic shared that concoction in Huntington's newsletter, The Thorny Bush, last year and it really works."
Thanks, Lynda!
Reach Sara Busse at sara.bu...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1249.
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