Cutting gardens are often designed using annual flowers, because annual flowers will repeat bloom throughout the season. However there is no rule that says you can’t have a perennial cutting garden. Many perennials will repeat flower if kept dead headed, which is exactly what a cutting garden is for. And since not all perennial flowers bloom at the same time, your bouquets and arrangements will take on a seasonal flair and provide you with ever changing variety.
Another nice aspect of using…MORE perennial plants in your cutting garden is that the plants will look good throughout the season. When you’ve finished cutting your peonies, the foliage will provide a nice backdrop to in coming flowers. And of course, you don’t have to plant a perennial cutting garden from scratch every year. There will be maintenance, but that’s true of annual flower gardens too.
Finally, there is also no rule that says you can’t mix some annual flowers into your perennial cutting garden. The garden design laid out here is all perennials, but you could easily tuck in some zinnias, Gomphrena, cosmos and nigella between fading or resting perennials.
The perennial cutting garden laid out here fills a corner bed that’s approximately 390 Sq. Ft. You can use this as planting plan or pick and choose flowers to fit into the space you have.
- Peony ‘Alma Hansen’
- Lilium ‘Star Gazer’ (Oriental Lily)
- Phlox paniculata ‘Franz Schubert’
- Peony ‘Longfellow’
- Eryngium planum – Sea Holly
- Helenium autumnale (Sneezeweed) ‘Butterpat’
- Papaver orientale – Oriental Poppy
- Liatris spicata (Gay Feather, Dense Blazing Star) ‘Kobold’
- Achillea millefolium (Yarrow) ‘Cerise Queen’
- Campanula persicifolia (Peach-leaved Bellflower) ‘Blue Bloomers’
- Platycodon grandiflorus – Balloon Flower
- Lilium ‘Corsica’ (Asiatic Lily)