Ready to start your own cut flower garden? In this post, I will share my top 10 easy to grow cut flowers you can start from seed!
What Are Cut Flowers?
Cut flowers are simply grown for the purpose of having a cutting garden.
Many cut flowers are known as, “cut and come again“, meaning you cut a stem and the plant is encouraged to produce even more blooms!
Why Start Cut Flowers From Seed?
As with most gardening, it can be quite expensive to buy a mature plant. Starting your cut flowers from seed is an economical and fun way to grow your very own flowers.
Additionally, you do not need any fancy equipment to start your seeds indoors.
Here are some of my favorite seed starting items for beginners at the moment:
- Heat mat
- Tidy potting tray
- Seed starting mix
- Amber spray bottle
- Grow lights with plant stand
- Self watering seed tray
- Plant labels
- Sticky gnat tags
- (If starting sweet peas I use these long root trainers)
Of course if you have any recycled materials at home they can also be used to start seeds for free and help to reduce plastic use. Think of materials like old milk jugs, plastic berry containers, or even scrap wood (like cedar) to create seed starting trays etc.
THE EASIEST CUT FLOWERS TO GROW FROM SEED
Growing cut flowers from seed is not only fun, but also incredibly rewarding! Here are some of my favorite cut flowers to grow from seed for beginner gardeners.
ASTER
An excellent long lasting cut flower! They make a great filler for your bouquets. I also recommend checking out, China asters for feathery-soft looking blooms.
CHAMOMILE
Chamomile makes for an excellent filler flower for bouquets!
Not only can you use chamomile in arrangements, but you can also dry chamomile for use in a variety of uses for its wellness benefits such as in teas and salves.
COSMOS
One of the easiest cut flowers to start from seed are cosmo flowers!
They are an excellent “cut and come again” flower where you will be rewarded with more blooms the more you cut!
When starting from seed, be sure to pinch the top of the cosmo seedling after you see 3 sets of “true leaves.”
DAHLIA
Growing dahlias from seed is incredibly easy! You can also try growing dahlias from tubers as well!
Although, growing dahlias from seed is much more economical.
FOXGLOVE
Foxgloves are an incredibly beautiful flower to add into your arrangements. They are very easy to grow. Just make sure you check to see if you have a first year flowering foxglove or a biannual (biannual flowers will only flower the second growing year).
MARIGOLD
Another great cut flower is marigold. Not only is marigold an excellent cut flower, but it also has several other great benefits!
Marigold is a great companion plant, as it is a natural pest repellant. (Goodbye aphids!)
Additionally, marigold makes for a beautiful dried flower.
SNAPDRAGON
Snapdragons are a quintessential cottage garden flower and are an easy cut flower for beginner gardeners to grow!
Snapdragons are pretty cold hardy and benefit from pinching as a seedlings once they have developed at least 3 sets of “true leaves.”
Additionally, if you are looking to grow snapdragons with upright stems, they will need some support netting to prevent them from wanting to lean towards the ground.
STATICE
Statice is an incredibly easy cut flower to start from seed!
They have sturdy upright stems in a variety of colors and make an excellent dried flower.
SUNFLOWER
Sunflowers make an excellent long lasting cut flower.
While you can start sunflowers early indoors, most sunflowers prefer to be directly sown outdoors after the danger of frost has passed.
SWEETPEAS
Sweetpeas are perhaps one of the easiest flowers to start from seed. They are a vining flower and will need a trellis or fencing to climb onto.
When starting sweetpeas from seeds, soak them for 24 hours in advance and plant in long root trainers.
Additionally, sweetpeas tend to be incredibly fragrant! A must have for any beginner cut flower garden!
BONUS FLOWER: ZINNIA
It wouldn’t be true a cut flower list without mentioning zinnias!
Zinnias are a prolific cut flower! They are very long lasting in flower arrangements and have sturdy stems.
While you can start zinnia’s indoors, it is recommended to directly sow them outdoors as they prefer to not have their roots disturbed.
How To Sell Cut Flowers
So now that you have your seeds, and have your seedlings growing away, what do you do next?!
Well, this depends on what your goal is. If you are looking to sell your cut flowers, check out my post on how I sell my cut flowers at my little road side stand.
However, you do not need to sell your cut flowers to enjoy them!
In fact, I started growing cut flowers for my own enjoyment and to give away to friends and family.
Flower Costs
Growing your own flowers does not have to cost a lot! In a previous post I detailed how you can start a cottage garden for $0! Ask friends, family and your neighbors for any seeds they may have or even visit a local library for free seeds!
Wishing you the best of luck and please tag me on Instagram @birchsalt with your bouquets!! I would love to see them.
Happy gardening!
This post contains some links to some products on Amazon I use in case you are interested! If you end up making a purchase I get a small commission, so thank you kindly for funding my garden! 🙂