When it comes to enjoying flowers in the house and cultivating a cutting garden, there is one kind of flowers that dominate the flower growing industry. They are called Cut-and-Come-Again flowers for a reason. They are necessary for constant blooming in your flower garden. Since 2007, I have started cultivating cut flowers. I’ll be brave enough to tell you that if someone attempts to convince you otherwise, they are completely incorrect.
Realizing the meaning of a cut-and-come-again flower.
Cut-and-come-again flowers are those that, the more blossoms you take from them, will continue to produce flowers. This implies that cutting a stem will promote the plant to branch out. From the leaf nodes just below where you made the incision, it will sprout many stems. In the coming days, this will offer additional fresh blossoms.
This is accomplished by the annual flowers and plants, which extend the harvest window. For many weeks, you will continue picking on the same plant. Because every bloom is cut when it gets ripe, the plant will provide more cut flowers. This is just what you need for flower arrangements that are steadily designed.
Zinnias are an excellent flower to cut and repurpose.
Consider Zinnias as an example. One of the most often used cut flower varieties is zinnia. The longest vase life is for the flowers, which begin in the middle of summer. The availability of zinnia seeds in the spring is an additional benefit. More flowers will appear once your zinnia seeds have sprouted and begun to bloom, and you have picked that initial bloom.
Plant zinnias twice or three times a week after they reach maximum output. All summer long, into late summer, and even into October, your zinnias will continue to bloom until the first frost. It is your opportunity to “cut and then come again” and “cut some more.”
That’s a cut-and-come-again flower, my buddy. They may be more lucrative than other flowers you cultivate in your cutting garden because of this. In this regard, Zinnias are absolute superstars. Your happiness will be immense when you plant them.
The Part Cut-and-Come-Again Flowers Play in a Business and Cut Flower Garden.
For a number of reasons, I would encourage these cut-and-come-again flowers to flourish as much as possible.
Plants will continue to produce blooms for weeks on end, so you won’t need to plant as many successions in a season.
1.Compared to other kinds of cut flowers, you get more stems per square foot. Let’s use Bells of Ireland and the cut-and-come-again Zinnia as an example. Irish bells contain several stems and a two to three week harvest window. That stem is gone as soon as it is harvested. This cut flower plant would take much too long to grow new stems, and the blooms that appeared in the second flush would probably not be of high quality for cutting. It would be best if you planned and planted Irish bells in sequence.
2.Because you don’t have to sow, plant, weed, and tend to three distinct crops to cover a harvest window of three to four weeks or more, cut and come again requires less labor overall from gardeners. These are small succession crops all by themselves. They’ll make some of the succession plantings unnecessary. Liken them to sunflowers with a single stem. Sunflowers are a perennial crop that you will need week after week during the summer, so plant them consistently and progressively.
Notwithstanding all of this, cut-and-come-again flowers and plants of this kind for a cutting garden will ultimately become weary, slow down, and finally fade. At that point, your succession planting should be scheduled to blossom at its peak the next growing season, ready with a fresh flush of tall stems and flowers.. BUT NOT until you have spent many weeks getting to know that initial planting and have used up all of its resources.
When your Cut and Come Again flowers for a cutting garden don’t bloom, here are some possible mistakes you can be doing.
I saw a post from a flower farmer earlier this year who had been gardening for three years. Cut and come again flowers don’t always work for everyone, and they didn’t work for her either, as she was explaining to others. She advised growing more succession crops as a tactic. She spoke about her cut-and-come-again flowers not working in her particular setting and how they don’t function effectively. She planted extra succession crops to make up for it.
I was perplexed by this. Flowers do what they are intended to; cut and come again. My expertise and knowledge of the situation lead me to believe that they would only become useless and unsightly if they developed a blight, were overrun by powdery mildew, or suffered from some other disease or infestation. I wondered what may be going on here.
Reasons for the appearance of “ugly flowers.”
Here are a few explanations for why a novice gardener or flower grower may be experiencing unsightly, worthless blossoms or experiencing insufficient yield.
- You may not have built all of your markets yet since you are just getting started. There’s nowhere for you to sell all the flowers you’ve planted and are making. Your garden’s plants are probably not growing new growth because you are probably not collecting what you don’t need. Better flowers will be produced in the coming weeks by this new growth—you know, when you need them for that bouquet you’re planning to purchase later on.
- You are a gardener that only harvests what you need when you need it, and you are employing a “pull” mechanism to harvest and fill orders as they come in. Most vegetable gardeners and even some cut flower producers can get away with this, but annual cut-and-come-again flower plants cannot.
The key to these flowers and plants is straightforward: you have to continue picking them. To ensure that the plant continues to produce lovely, marketable stems with flawless, unmarked petals, you must clip everything that is ready to go when it is ready to go.
If the blooms aren’t clipped on a regular basis, they will get pollinated and the plant will produce seeds, which means it won’t be able to produce florist-quality cut flowers. The plant itself will stop producing stems and become less of a cut-and-come-again plant with the desired extended bloom period.
Unfortunately, all of them draw pollinators to their bloom, which is both a good and terrible thing. Thus, if you’re a fan of pollinators and butterflies, leave a bloom or two here and there and use the remainder to style and beautify your clean vase water.
Deadheading is ineffective; you need to make a regular, lengthy cut instead.
Dead-heading the bloom—that is, just cutting off the blossoms—will damage your subsequent crop and prevent the plants from developing appropriate, long stems. Proceed with a standard deep cut as if you were gathering flowers for retail. This encourages you to collect and sell the lovely blooms that the plant continues to produce.
Your market and floral demand will expand as a result. You will stand out from the competitors as people notice you and get used to your wealth. You will appreciate these elegant and plentiful beauties once your marketplaces are established.
The solution to your abundant cut-and-come-again flowers.
In order to avoid wasting cut-and-come-again annual flowers in your flower garden, I strongly advise setting up a pop-up farmer’s market or farm stand to sell the blossoms.
My favorite spot to offer these popular, low-maintenance flowers in straight bunches as a single-species arrangement is at my farmstand. They are my favorite method to arrange flowers throughout the house since they are so simple to create. Pretty sure your neighborhood florist would also purchase them. These flowers are in great demand since they don’t transport properly.
Which annual cut flowers are most suitable for simple, sophisticated floral arrangements?
The greatest and most straightforward annual flowers to cultivate from seed are listed here. The seeds are inexpensive and usually available at the grocery store, Walmart, or garden shop. They should be planted in full light.
These tried-and-true winners will produce blooms from mid-July through early September, and even until your last frost (which will kill them all).
Pro Tip: When purchasing these annuals, seek for the taller variety!
- Calendula (Flowers: Yellow to Orange)
- Cerinthe (Extra leafy material)
- Universe
- Dahlias—ideal for autumnal décor
- Nicotiana
- Helichrysum, or the sunflower
- Statice Limonium
- Marigolds (resistant to deer)
- Pansy
- Drummondii Phlox (Annual)
- Rudbeckia and various variations (seed in early spring; perennials but First Year Flowering)
- Scabiosa
- Sweet peas
- Sweet William (flowering in his first year)
- Select branching types of sunflowers.
- Zinnias (all varieties of Zinnia elegans cut beautifully)
- Snapdragons
- Bedder Salvia farinacea
The idea that these plants won’t provide a bumper crop for you throughout your growing season is untrue.
These plants are beautiful because they need fewer succession plantings, which saves you money and effort. In actuality, believing anything different is a waste of time and space. The sensible strategy to build your garden and floral company is to make the most of what you have and increase your profitability by producing more stems per square foot.
May your affection for these amazing annuals and plants develop abundantly and consistently, your gardens bloom, and your bouquets amaze. Cheers to growing flowers!
