Not too long ago, the average bouquet of cut flowers featured some limp daisies and a few soulless carnations. Today, the flowers that are available at farmer's markets and local flower shops is entirely different. Zinnias and sunflowers are now accompanied by an irresistible selection of dahlias, scabiosa, sea holly, lisianthus, lilies, bells of Ireland, larkspur and other delights.
Debra Prinzing, founder of slowflowers.com, is a tireless advocate for locally-grown cut flowers and a highly respected spokesperson for the movement. Her website is a go-to resource for growers, floral designers, retailers and consumers. It now includes more than 700 businesses across the U.S. and Canada.
Debra Prinzing of slowflowers.com
Longfield Gardens is proud to be a lead sponsor of slowflowers.com, and help to cheer on the hard-working flower farmers and floral designers who are making this change possible. Our involvement in the organization also provides an opportunity for us to learn about growing practices and emerging trends in the flower world.
Debra lives in the Seattle area and is an avid home gardener. Last spring, she asked us to recommend a collection of plants for a 3' x 7' raised bed in her backyard. Her vision was a mini-cutting garden that would provide at least 10 weeks of summer bouquets. We proposed a color-coordinated assortment of spring-planted bulbs with high-impact flowers that would complement the annuals, perennials and shrubs already growing in other parts of her yard.
A Small Space Yields Lots of Flowers
Debra planted her miniature cutting garden in May and added a few of her own favorites, including chocolate cosmos and some zinnias and nasturtiums that she grew from seed. At the heart of the bed are eight dahlias in shades of gold, peach and burgundy. They include Noordwijk's Glorie, Hawaii, Karma Choc, Rip City, American Dawn and Mirella. When these photos were taken in early August, some of the dahlias were just starting to bloom. But it was already prime time for the first batch of gladiolas. Debra was delighted to discover that the 18" high beds allow her to see the glads from her kitchen window.
Sunset Mix gladiolas
Debra's goal for this 3' x 7' raised bed was to provide enough flowers at least two bouquets a week. To fill out her arrangements and add extra interest, she incorporates annuals and perennials from other parts of the garden. These include rudbeckia, cerinthe, roses, hydrangeas and yarrow. For foliage, she clips stems from the shrubs growing around her yard, including ninebark, cotinus, golden privet and baptisia.
A late summer bouquet of Debra Prinzing's home-grown dahlias. Now that it’s peak dahlia season, Debra has more than enough flowers to share with everyone who stops by. She invites visitors to come out into the garden with scissors and choose their own flowers. She loves seeing how excited they get about composing a custom bouquet.
Spring-Blooming Bulbs, Too!
When fall comes, Debra plans to remove the summer bulbs and replace them with tulips. For her spring cutting garden, Debra will be planting two of our newest tulip collections. They include early, mid and late-season varieties to ensure 6 to 8 weeks of colorful blooms.
When flower farmers plant tulips that will be sold as cut flowers, they place the bulbs very closely together. The tulips don't seem to mind, and the growers can harvest twice as many flowers from the same footprint. Using this approach, Debra's 3' x 7' raised bed could accommodate as many as 200 tulip bulbs.
For next summer, Debra is already imagining a different color scheme. In addition to planting eight dahlias and 30 glads, she will add acidanthera, calla lilies and liatris. This year she's been surprised by how many plants she can grow in a small space. She is also discovering that planting densely means almost zero weeding!
For next gardening season, we will be offering several cutting garden collections that are perfect for raised beds. These pre-planned gardens will make it easy for almost anyone to participate in the slow flowers movement. Hopefully you'll want to join the fun and plant your own pint-size cutting garden!
