Sally Scalera: Here's a guide to growing your own cut flowers in Florida - Florida Today
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Growing flowers to cut and bring inside to brighten a room is easy to do. It's so much fun, why not consider growing some yourself?
Continue reading to discover the flowers that bloom during the coming months and hold up well in vases. If you don't have a yard, grow them in containers.
Two excellent perennial cut flowers, that continually produce flowers, are Gerbera daisy, Gerbera jamesonii, and blue salvia, Salvia farinacea. There are many other Salvias to choose from, and here are a few for you to consider growing in your yard.
The Saucy Red and Saucy Wine salvias grow vigorously and are continually in bloom.
There are also the Wish salvias developed in Australia. If you love deep purple blooms, try Love and Wishes; for bright coral flowers, choose Ember's Wish; and then there's Wendy's Wish, which produces burgundy flowers.
There are also many salvia species to choose from, such as Salvia urica, blue bush salvia and our native annual Tropical sage, Salvia coccinea.
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Tropical sage blooms are typically bright red, but there are recessive traits for pink and white blooms that can show up when the plants re-seed. A quick internet search will help you discover nurseries that sell Salvia species and cultivars giving you so many tempting choices that you may have a hard time choosing which ones to buy.
Make sure to choose plants that are listed for our Hardiness Zone 9.
Sunflowers are also an option. They are extremely easy to grow from seed, and the ones to choose for cut flowers should produce low or no pollen.
If you prefer smaller sunflowers, look for the cultivar Elegance, which only grows 20 to 30 inches tall. They produce golden sunflowers with brown centers. The plants branch profusely, with each flower growing on a long stem.
Taller varieties include Frilly and Panache with dark centers, or Greenburst, which has green centers. For burgundy flowers, there is ProCut Red.
When harvesting the flowers, harvest them young, when the flower petals begin to uncurl and straighten out.
Another great cut flower, that is also easy to grow from seed, is Ageratum, commonly called Floss flower. Check your local garden centers to see if seed packets are available now.
The cultivar Everest Blue is a tall-growing plant, 20 to 26 inches, that was developed for the cut flower market.
Zinnias produce flowers in every color except blue. These flowers are also heat-loving, which make them perfect for Florida. There are single flowers (resembling a daisy), double flowers and ones that resemble dahlias.
Of course, we can't forget about our native Blanket flower, Gaillardia pulchella, which is a self-seeding annual that can grow in dry sandy soils. The flowers are produced on long stems and come in single, double, and even tubular.
The flower colors can be orange red with yellow tips or reddish-purple, and plants producing solid yellow, orange, or red flowers are also available.
Our native Liatris, also called blazing star, produces tall, narrow purple flowers spikes that can grow 3 feet tall. Because the blooms are a great food source for butterflies, bees, and other pollinators, you may feel guilty bringing the blooms inside to enjoy.
Our state wildflower, Coreopsis, also makes great cut flowers. There is a cultivar, Presto, which produces 2-inch-wide blooms that are semi- or fully double, but this hybrid won't reseed like the traditional Coreopsis species will.
If you would like to grow a brightly colored, bird-shaped flower, the Bird-of-Paradise is your plant. This herbaceous perennial produces gorgeous orange and blue flowers that look wonderful in flower arrangements or just displayed alone in a vase. The trick to keeping this plant gorgeous is to prune out the entire faded flower, along with the leaf that produced it, as far down near the ground as possible. This will keep the plant thinned out and growing strong.
When gathering cut flowers, it's important to prepare and care for them properly, so they survive for as long as possible.
How to care for cut flowers
- Before going outside to collect the flowers, fill the vases or containers that you will be using with room temperature water.
- Add some clear soda (i.e., ginger ale, sprite, etc.) to the water to supply the flowers with sugar.
- Gather your cut flowers in the early morning, especially when the temperatures are warm or hot in the morning.
- Remove all leaves and branches so that only clean, straight stems are placed in the water.
- Before placing each flower in its container, cut the stem again, at an angle, so that it doesn't rest flat on the bottom. This will allow for better uptake of the water.
- Place your cut flowers in locations that are away from sunlight, drafts and fruit. Drafts can be caused by ceiling fans, vents and open windows. The cooler the temperatures, the longer the flowers will last. Locations near fruit aren't good either because fruit produces ethylene gas, which is harmful for the flowers.
- Check the flowers daily for dead leaves or petals that may have fallen into the water and remove as needed.
- Keep an eye on the water and change it out every other day or so (don't let it become cloudy) and don't forget to add some soda.
If growing a cut flower garden sounds fun, head to the garden center now and check out their seed packets. If growing flowers from seed isn't your idea of fun, look for transplants to add to your landscape.
No matter how you want to get started, bringing cut flowers inside to enjoy is an easy way to brighten a room.
Sally Scalera is an urban horticulture agent and master gardener coordinator for the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences. Email sasc@ufl.edu.
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