The 5 Best Flowers for a Cut Flower Garden

It can be overwhelming to choose the best flowers for a cut flower garden. They’re all so pretty! But after years of growing these are my top 5 recommended flowers.

What is a Cut Flower Garden?

Before I jump in, let’s go over exactly what a cut flower garden is.

In short, this is a garden grown for the purpose of cutting the blooms and making arrangements. Flowers grown for cutting are very different than your average flowers found at a local nursery.

Cut flowers have longer, stronger stems and are built to stay lovely for days in a vase. Below I’m sharing my favorite annuals because they tend to be more affordable and quick growing. If you have the time, space, and patience, though, I always recommend growing peonies as cut flowers. They are truly stunning and fun to grow.

Your typical garden center flowers have short stems and generally wilt when cut. The same flower has very different varieties meant for landscaping or cutting.

You would hardly believe that a cutting garden snapdragon is even related to the typical garden snapdragon!

The 5 Best Flowers for a Cut Garden

1. Zinnias

Zinnias are an absolute workhorse in the garden. They can be direct seeded and produce a prolific amount of flowed per plant.

And with the recent explosion of small flower farmers, there has been a great increase in the colors of Zinnias.

I love the peachy tones and the queen lime series are always a crowd pleaser.

2. Sunflowers

Like zinnias, you can direct seed sunflowers. They take only 60 days to bloom (which is great for my high elevation zone 4 garden!) and require little maintenance.

Sunflowers come in branching and single varieties. I prefer the single stem options, particularly the ProCut sunflowers. They come in a variety of colors and don’t produce much pollen.

For cutting you want to plant your seeds very close. I’ve had great success using the earth way seeder for planting sunflowers.

You can certainly start sunflowers seeds in the greenhouse and then transplant them out. But it’s not necessary. They do very well direct seeded, as long as the soil is adequately warmed.

I’ve had the best success direct seeding, watering, and then covering with a thin layer of remay. This not only protects the tender shoots from hungry birds, but it keeps the moisture in, too.

3. Dahlias

Are you looking for a real showstopper if a flower? Then you need to meet the dahlia. These beauties come in a giant range of colors and shapes.

Dahlias come from tubers, so they are more expensive to start with (tubers range from $4-$20). But the tubers multiple underground, allowing you to quickly expand your stock each season.

Not only do you get more tubers each year, but each plant produces an impressive amount of blooms.

So while dahlias are more expensive to get started with and require a bit more effort to grow, I still highly recommend them if you want a truly amazing focal flower.

They aren’t completely deer resistant, but they stand up well to predators, last well in the vase, and offer an unmatched unique beauty.

4. Snapdragons

I was skeptical about snapdragons at first, but after three years flower farming, they’ve become a favorite mainstay.

They fill out a bouquet beautifully and give needed height to any arrangement. I also like that they come in such a variety of colors and have a pretty large cutting window. The madame butterfly and rocket mixes do especially well in the cut flower garden.

5. Mint

Every bouquet needs some greenery to really fill it out. For this I absolutely adore mint.

It’s a voracious grower, comes in a variety of shades, and smells great. To my surprise, it had come back every year, even in my zone 4 mountain garden.

Mint does spread, so be sure to plant it on a contained area.

How to Start a Cut Flower Garden

At the end of the day it’s all about giving it your best effort. If I have one piece of advice it’s, just go do it!

As a recovering perfectionist I know how easy it is to become overwhelmed and never even start. The great thing about plants is they’re resilient and they’re incredibly beautiful, no matter the variety.

So work with whatever budget you have and start small. You’ll soon learn all about your unique growing environment and personal flower preferences.

Grow what brings you joy and take notes and photos throughout the season. You always think you’ll remember what grew best, but after a busy few months it all blurs together.

Grab some seeds (or tubers) and get your hands dirty.