Starting your own cut flower garden

Winter months are a perfect time to start dreaming and planning your next garden.  If you are looking for information on growing cut flowers, here are some of the resources that were the most helpful to me when I started my cut flower business, Amazing Vase.

THE FLOWER FARMER ~ by Lynn Byczynski

This book covers every aspect of growing cut flowers; choosing flower varieties, site and soil, growing plants, dried flower gardens, woody ornamentals, harvesting, arranging fresh cut flowers, and marketing cut flowers.  This book is so helpful; I highly recommend it!

BURPEE FLOWERING GARDENS ~ by Chet Davis, Ken Druse, and Charles O. Cresson

This book is actually three books compiled into one; Flowering Shrubs by Ken Druse, Cutting Gardens by Chet Davis, and Ornamental Trees by Charles O. Cresson.  The most helpful parts of this book for me were the sections on cutting gardens and flowering shrubs.  You will find Information on planning, planting and growing cut flowers and shrubs, harvesting and designing with cut flowers, and gardener’s most-asked questions.

GROWING PERENNIALS IN COLD CLIMATES ~ by Mike Heger and John Whitman

My cut flower gardens are mostly comprised of perennials, so this publication was extremely helpful to me for choosing plants and specific varieties for growing.  This book gives plants a five-star rating system to help you select top performing plants, along with information on cutting, drying, and companion planting.  Any gardener in the Northland will appreciate this book!

SPECIALTY CUT FLOWERS ~ by Allan Armitage and Judy Laushman

I requested this book from my local library so many times that they finally purchased a copy to sit on the shelves!  It is a book written quite in depth, perhaps written more for the serious commercial or greenhouse grower, but I still found it helpful.

All of these books can be found in public libraries, or purchased new or used from online book stores.