There is something particularly exciting about September in the flower garden. Spring is beginning to arrive, the soil is warming, and after months of winter greens and bare stems, suddenly everything feels frothy and signs of colour are appearing. But I’m also looking ahead to summer.
The summer cutting garden is where things really begin to get exciting. This is when the garden becomes generous, producing armfuls of flowers for the house and, if I’m lucky, enough to share with friends too.
When choosing what to grow, I always look for flowers that are beautiful, but also productive. I want plants that keep flowering once they get going, have long stems for cutting and, ideally, can be picked again and again throughout the season.
These are six of my favourites from the Crawford Road seed selection that I’ll be growing for summer.
Zinnia
If I had to choose one flower that sums up a summer cutting garden, it would probably be the zinnia. They are cheerful, incredibly productive and come in such a wonderful range of colours that it is almost impossible to choose just one.
Zinnias are one of those flowers that reward you for picking them. The more you cut, the more they produce, so I try not to be too precious about leaving flowers in the garden. Regular cutting encourages long stems and keeps the plants flowering for months.
I particularly love them for filling gaps in bouquets. Their sturdy stems and almost perfectly round flower heads add a lovely structure, while the colours bring that unmistakable feeling of summer.
My tip: Don’t be afraid to cut zinnias hard. Once they begin flowering, regular picking is the secret to keeping them productive.
Scabiosa
Scabiosa has a much softer, more romantic feel than zinnia, and I love the way it moves in a bouquet. The flowers sit on long, slender stems and seem to float amongst the other flowers, making them particularly useful for creating that loose, garden-gathered look.
They are also brilliant for pollinators, so you get the best of both worlds: a flower that looks beautiful in a vase and is equally valuable out in the garden.
One of my favourite things about scabiosa is that it doesn't feel overly formal. It has a slightly wild, airy quality that makes even a very simple bunch of flowers feel special.
My tip: Keep picking the flowers regularly and deadhead spent blooms to encourage a long succession of flowers.
Strawflower
Strawflower is one of those plants that seems almost too good to be true. The flowers have a papery texture that holds their shape and colour beautifully, both in the garden and once picked.
They are particularly useful if you love making dried flowers. I grow plenty specifically for drying, but I also use them fresh in summer arrangements, where their slightly crisp texture provides a lovely contrast to softer flowers.
There is something wonderfully nostalgic about strawflowers too. They have that old-fashioned cottage garden feeling, but the range of colours available now means they can look just as beautiful in a more contemporary garden.
I think every cutting garden needs a few flowers that can bridge the gap between fresh and dried, and strawflower does that beautifully.
My tip: Pick strawflowers for drying when the flowers are only partly open. Hang them upside down somewhere warm, dry and well ventilated and they will keep for months.
Amaranthus
Amaranthus is a flower I grow whenever I want to add a little drama to a bouquet. The long, trailing flower heads have such a wonderful shape and movement, and even a few stems can completely transform an arrangement.
I particularly love using it towards the end of summer when the garden is overflowing with flowers. By then, I’m often picking great armfuls of zinnias, cosmos and dahlias, and amaranthus adds those long, cascading lines that stop everything looking too neat.
It is also one of those flowers that looks impressive despite requiring very little from you. Give it warmth, sun and plenty of room and it will reward you with an abundance of flowers.
My tip: Give amaranthus plenty of space. Some varieties can become surprisingly large, and the stems are much easier to use when the plants have had room to grow well.
Aster
Asters are one of my favourite flowers for extending the cutting season. They arrive when some of the earlier summer flowers are beginning to slow down, bringing fresh colour just when the garden needs it.
The small, daisy-like flowers are incredibly useful in bouquets. They have a lovely informal quality and work particularly well alongside larger, more dramatic flowers.
I also love their old-fashioned charm. They remind me of the sort of flowers you might find growing in a generous country garden, spilling over a path and attracting bees and butterflies.
For me, a good cutting garden isn't just about having a huge flush of flowers in December or January. It is about creating a succession of blooms so there is always something to pick. Asters are an important part of that summer-to-autumn transition.
My tip: Succession sow a few weeks apart if you have the space. This can help spread your harvest and give you flowers over a longer period.
Cosmos
And finally, cosmos. I don't think I could have a summer cutting garden without them.
There is something about cosmos that makes a garden feel instantly summery. Their delicate flowers sway on tall stems, and they have that wonderful ability to make a garden look abundant without ever feeling too carefully arranged. They are the poppy of summer to me.
They are also incredibly generous cut flowers. Once they start flowering, I pick them constantly, and they just keep producing more.
I particularly love using cosmos in simple bunches on their own, but they are equally beautiful mixed with zinnias, scabiosa and amaranthus. Their feathery foliage is an added bonus, meaning you often don't need much greenery when arranging them.
If you are new to growing cut flowers, cosmos would be high on my list of flowers to try. They are easy to grow from seed, flower prolifically and give you an enormous return for the amount of space they take up.
My tip: Keep cutting. Cosmos respond brilliantly to regular picking, and leaving too many flowers to go to seed can signal to the plant that its job is done.
Growing for a Summer of Flowers
One of the things I have learnt from growing a cutting garden is that the secret isn't necessarily growing more flowers. It is growing a good succession of flowers.
September is the perfect time to start thinking about this. Some of the flowers we sow now will provide the backbone of the summer garden, while later sowings can help keep the supply going once the first flush begins to fade.
I always try to include a mixture of flower shapes, colours and textures. Zinnias bring bold, cheerful colour; scabiosa adds softness; strawflowers bring texture; amaranthus gives height and movement; asters help carry the garden towards autumn; and cosmos somehow tie everything together.
And perhaps my favourite thing about a summer cutting garden is that it doesn't need to be perfect. In fact, I think the best ones rarely are. A few stems picked from here, a handful of flowers from there, and suddenly you have enough for a jug on the kitchen table.