Martha Stewart gets it. We all want to fill our homes with beautiful, home-grown arrangements – but we're reluctant to sacrifice the blooms in our yards. However, it is impossible to enjoy our flowers inside without interrupting our yard's aesthetic – and it comes in the shape of cutting gardens.
'There's a way to keep your lush, flower-filled backyard garden intact but still have gorgeous blooms to make arrangements with: Plant an additional garden (called a cutting garden) and fill it with flowers that are meant to be displayed in a vase,' Martha explains. 'You get the best of both worlds.'
Planning a cut flower garden can initially sound like a lot of extra work, but despite its name, it doesn't involve creating an entirely new plot just for cut flowers. Instead, you only need an empty bit of ground and a few packets of seeds. Here's what you need to know, according to gardening experts.
'Before choosing your flowers, you'll need to figure out where to plant them so your garden will flourish,' Martha says before pointing to her blog for more tips.
Experts say choosing a place where sunlight is a priority and that is well-drained will ensure flowers don't become overly moist. And, for every flower-filled garden, it's essential to choose a place with fertile soil that will assist in plant health. Picking up a soil test [such as this one on Amazon] will help determine which nutrients may be missing in your soil – so you can add them accordingly.
Then, after finding the right spot for your cutting garden, you need to choose the best plants. Of course, this comes down to personal preference – but for inspiration – Gardening Chores investigated the most beloved booms across the US – and what makes them so popular.
Which popular plants look best in a cutting garden?
As Martha mentions, the aim of a cutting garden is to create flowers that will eventually become a part of arrangements – whether in our own homes or as a gift for someone else. So, it's natural to want to start with the blooms that are currently most admired around the country: beginning with lavender.
1. Lavender
'Lavender is America’s favorite flower, with an average of 69,430 collective yearly searches,' the experts at Gardening Chores say.
It's easy to see why lavender is so loved, however. 'It's renowned for its delicate purple flowers and wonderful fragrance that promotes relaxation,' they say. 'It can provide a welcome shock of color to any space and is great for pollinators, so can attract bees to your garden, too.'
2. Roses
'Synonymous with romance and passion, it appears America's love extends to roses as well. With 41,030 searches per year on average, the rose ranks as America’s third most popular flower', and it's coincidentally perfect for a cutting garden.
'The sheer variety of species can seem overwhelming, but it means there is likely to be a variety to suit whatever space one might have,' they say. 'Roses generally grow best in full sun, with soil of medium moisture and a pH ranging from neutral to slightly acidic. However, specific types of roses can tolerate conditions outside of this range.'
3. Peonies
The striking peony is also America's most favorite flowers, with an average of 36,870 yearly searches, meaning it is a failsafe option for our cutting garden, and will instantly impress in any home when the time comes.
'Peonies are a perennial plant that blooms briefly in late spring and early summer,' the experts say. 'They grow best in full sunlight or partially shaded areas that receive a lot of afternoon sun in the summer. They are also quite particular about the soil they grow in, preferring loose, well-draining, fertile, rich soil.'
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