Another landscaping trend that has been taking over gardens everywhere lately is cutting gardens, that is, gardens planted with flowers that are meant to be cut for flower arrangements. Cutting gardens feature flowers with showy blooms and long stems that can be easily cut for display.
Laura Walsh, marketing director at Oasis Forage Products, predicts that cutting gardens will be all the rage in 2024. “Gardeners, nature lovers and home decor enthusiasts are embracing the cutting garden trend to indulge in the art of foraging and enjoy fresh flowers at home,” she says.
As the owner and aficionado of my own mowing garden, I can personally attest to the value of this trend. Cutting gardens can be fully customized to your unique floral tastes and preferences, and you can enjoy multiple iterations of your cutting garden by planting several types of seasonal blooms throughout the year.
Fortunately, starting your own cutting garden is easy. Choose a location that receives plenty of sunlight and use plenty of fresh, rich soil to give your garden a good start. Pro tip: Plant flowers in rows just like you would plant vegetables in a vegetable garden to prepare for easy cutting and pruning down the road!
Tulips, dahlias, peonies, ranunculus, sunflowers and gladioli are popular choices for cutting gardens, but you may have to wait to plant some of these options. Tulips, for example, grow from bulbs that should be planted in the fall; peony bulbs also do best when planted in the fall. If these are on your wish list, consider this the year of planting and next the year of harvest.
But sunflowers and zinnias can be planted from seed this spring, as can marigolds and other fast-growing flowers.