Willow's Cutting Garden

Flowers & Gardens

Willow's Cutting Garden

My advice on starting a cutting garden...

I have always longed to create a cutting garden at home.

My dream is to have acres to play with so that I can grow the flowers I need for for my work, events, and workshops. But I would need a vast flower farm! So this year, I finally decided to dedicate a part of my garden to grow flowers I can enjoy seeing bloom and cut to use, at home, at the very least... Most of it is my domain; my husband Charlie has a couple of beds for vegetables and herbs. The rest of the garden is for my 3 boys really - cricket nets, football goals and so on!

If you, like me, have always dreamed of creating a cutting garden at home, I would urge you to. The joy it has brought me this year is indescribable…

Here's what I've learned... If you want your cutting garden to be something wonderful by next Spring:

1. Start collecting your seeds now. Take note of the time of year to sow them and label them well.

2. Get your garden ready - we built really good, deep raised beds which has made all the difference.

3. Prepare your soil. The soil is as important as the seeds you sow. Take time to nurture it.

4. Sketch a little plan of what you want to go where - think about timings, what will flower when; it’s nice to have constant flowering so try and be clever with your staggering.

5. I love to grow from seed but if you don't have time, energy, or space, you can always begin with seedlings that have been started for you already.

6. Start sowing your seeds undercover in the autumn, wait patiently, and by early Spring you'll see life and by this time next year, voila, you should have an abundant cutting garden to take your picks!

My favourite and most joy-giving plants this year have been ammi majus, corncockle, phlox and nasturtium, all of which will be invited back to the party again next year...

Here I share some of my favourite varieties and those I have used in my own garden, Sarah Raven is always my first go-to...

Ammi majus
Lacy white flowers, like a more delicate form of cow parsley. It is the best white filler foliage plant you can grow and spectacular arranged in a great cloud on its own. Needs plenty of water.

Nasturtium 'Bloody Mary'
Flowers vary from one plant to the next between primrose yellow with a crimson splotch and delicate veining, to almost all crimson with primrose contrasting markings

Thalictrum 'Elin'
Imperial and statuesque, Thalictrum 'Elin' has dark purple stems and dusky, lavender-pink flowers with yellow stamens. With its upright nature, it’s excellent for creating structure and a focal point in the garden. The stems might require support if grown in a shady spot

Veronicastrum virginicum 'Album'
This has sculptural and unusual whorled foliage and then tall flower spikes which look good as they're coming out, in full flower and gone over.

Verbena bonariensis
A haze of purple flowers at head height from late summer to autumn, which is a confetti of butterflies the moment there is a glimpse of sun.

Hydrangea arborescens 'Incrediball' (Strong Annabelle)
An offspring from the classic 'Annabelle', loved for its larger heads and with stronger necks than 'Annabelle', to keep its vast pompoms looking perky.

Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight'
One of my favourite hydrangeas, which opens the cleanest, brightest, acid green. Then the flowers fully flatten and turn pure ivory, before being washed with rich pink. Fantastically long flowering.

Wild Wood Phlox Collection
Spring flowering for dappled shade, these have a wafting, delicate scent to brighten early borders and pots. Great for providing ground cover for slopes and banks, to plant along path edges and for underplanting roses.

Phlox paniculata 'Bright Eyes'
A vibrant pink phlox with dark pink eyes and that familiar and much loved scent - this is wonderful for injecting late summer colour into borders.

Phlox paniculata 'David'
An excellent white phlox, with vigorous growth and medium height, with nice bright, light green leaves

This Cut Flower Seed Tin Collection from Sarah Raven is also a great place to start...