Winter months are a perfect time to start dreaming and planning your next garden.  If you are looking for information on growing cut flowers, here are some of the resources that were the most helpful to me when I started my cut flower business, Amazing Vase.

THE FLOWER FARMER ~ by Lynn Byczynski

This book covers every aspect of growing cut flowers; choosing flower varieties, site and soil, growing plants, dried flower gardens, woody ornamentals, harvesting, arranging fresh cut flowers, and marketing cut flowers.  This book is so helpful; I highly recommend it!

BURPEE FLOWERING GARDENS ~ by Chet Davis, Ken Druse, and Charles O. Cresson

This book is actually three books compiled into one; Flowering Shrubs by Ken Druse, Cutting Gardens by Chet Davis, and Ornamental Trees by Charles O. Cresson.  The most helpful parts of this book for me were the sections on cutting gardens and flowering shrubs.  You will find Information on planning, planting and growing cut flowers and shrubs, harvesting and designing with cut flowers, and gardener’s most-asked questions.

GROWING PERENNIALS IN COLD CLIMATES ~ by Mike Heger and John Whitman

My cut flower gardens are mostly comprised of perennials, so this publication was extremely helpful to me for choosing plants and specific varieties for growing.  This book gives plants a five-star rating system to help you select top performing plants, along with information on cutting, drying, and companion planting.  Any gardener in the Northland will appreciate this book!

SPECIALTY CUT FLOWERS ~ by Allan Armitage and Judy Laushman

I requested this book from my local library so many times that they finally purchased a copy to sit on the shelves!  It is a book written quite in depth, perhaps written more for the serious commercial or greenhouse grower, but I still found it helpful.

All of these books can be found in public libraries, or purchased new or used from online book stores.

If you love gardening, history, and culture, or are looking for a gift for someone that does, consider the book, ‘Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden’, a first hand account of gardening by the Hidatsa Indians in the 1800’s.  This book was written by Gilbert L. Wilson, a Minnesota anthropologist, as his dissertation in 1917.  It was republished by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1987, and is an incredible historical document of the farming methods used by the Hidatsa people.  Buffalo Bird Woman was born around 1839 in the Missouri Valley area, and became an accomplished gardener amongst her people.  In the later part of her long life she shared a first hand account of the Hidatsa gardening methods and techniques with Gilbert Wilson, and most of the book is directly translated from Buffalo Bird Woman’s own words, complete with stories, jokes, and personal recollections about village life.

Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden describes planting, preparation, cultivating, harvesting and storing practices, as well as traditional songs and prayers sung to honor and encourage the garden’s yield.  Beautifully detailed drawings by her son Edward Goodbird illustrate Buffalo Bird Woman’s descriptions of gardening and storing produce and other activities. This book is walking, planting, and harvesting history, told with incredible detail that brings the old ways to life.  A fascinating read!!

This easy to grow variety of Arrowwood Viburnum is a compact, rounded shrub that is ideal for foundation planting or hedging use.  The dark blue seed pod clusters are a stunning addition as cut flowers for fall bouquets.  The fruit of this woody ornamental also provides food for the birds.

Growing information:

Height - 4′ to 6′ feet tall

Hardy zones 4 - 8

Spring bloom of white flowers, followed by blue clusters of berries in the fall.

Touring the cut gardens

On Friday, September 12th we were part of a tour scheduled for the Minnesota State Master Gardeners Conference.  At 10:30 Friday morning a large coach motor bus arrived with 48 gardeners aboard, most of them Master Gardeners.  We had been tuning up the yard and gardens for weeks, and converted our garden shed into a temporary ‘Soap Store’ for the day.

During the tour, Mike was busy fielding questions about organic farming while I focused on the cut flower growing inquiries.  Our daughters Shari and Julie took care of selling our Good Thymes Bath & Body products, and sharing with folks how we make all our own product right here on our family farm.  And my mother was there, too, helping to watch the little ones during the tour.

We had invited our farming neighbors, Daniel and Janel Lemke, over to promote their natural ice cream.  They scooped and sold ‘Sunny Road’ ice cream that they make in a cheese and ice cream plant right on their farm, with milk from their herd of pasture fed brown swiss cows.  We treated the tourists to organic coffee to compliment the wonderful ice cream and Italian ice made by Lemke’s.

I think it went quite well, though I was very, very nervous.  In fact, I was so nervous that I needed to hold my 7 month old grandson, Gregory, the entire tour, just to have something to hang on to.  A 7 month old in charge of supporting a grandma?  What’s this farm coming to anyway?

Selling soap in the garden shed

Lemke's natural ice cream

Husker's Red seed pods

Husker’s Red Penstemon delivers three seasons of interest to my gardens.  In early summer I cut the purplish foliage to use as fillers in bouquets, then in mid summer I cut the blushing pink flowering bells.  In late summer the flowers have transformed into an interesting cluster of colorful seed pods, which are useful for an accent in flower arrangements.  Other penstemon varieties will also make interesting seed pods if not deadheaded, usually they form an interesting cluster of green pods.  Deadheading of this plant will encourage new growth and rebloom.  Penstemon will attract butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden.

Growing information:

Hardy zones 3 - 9

Bloom time - mid summer

Height - 24″ tall, other varieties can vary from 12″ to 48″

Plant in well drained soil

Husker's Red early summer foliage

With its unusual shape, texture, and color, globe thistle adds much interest to both the garden and vase.  The foliage definately resembles a thistle, so this plant might work better in a cottage garden rather than a formal garden.

Growing information:

Hardy zones 3 - 8

Height - 30″ to 48″

Bloom time - mid to late summer

Plant in average, well drained soil.  Drought tolerant.

Good for fresh cut flowers or dried.

Pincushion flowers are an adorable addition to a flower arrangement; the 2 inch white or lavender blossoms are elegant and long lasting in the vase.  The varieties to grow for cutting include ‘Fama’, ‘House Hybrids’, ‘Alba’, ‘Blue Perfection’, and ‘Grand Stone’.  Scabiosa is very low maintenance, rarely needing dividing and doesn’t require support.

Growing information:

Hardy zones 3 - 7

Height - 24″ to 36″

Bloom time - Mid summer

Plant in full sun or light shade, prefers afternoon shade in warmer zones

Tall phlox brings a burst of color to the mid summer garden, and one of my favorites for its unusual coloring and twisted petals is ‘Natural Feelings’.

The rosy pink petals are striped with green and never fully open, giving it a look much like statice.  Not only are they long blooming and draw much attention to the garden border, they are also a long lasting cut flower for flower arrangements.

Growing information:

Hardy zones 4 - 8

Bloom time - mid summer, long blooming

Height - 24″ to 30″

Plant in sun, with good air circulation to help prevent mildew

Pink Calla lilies spilling out of a strawberry pitcher …………… does summertime get any better than this?

On July 18th we hosted a Red Hat ladies group for a tour of our gardens and soap business. After touring the cut flower gardens, Loy Ann, Jenny, Penny, Marilyn and Char each made a bouquet to take home, and enjoyed ice tea and each others company while relaxing at the edge of the gardens. They also toured our soap business to see how a small company like ours makes everything fresh in small batches. The weather was lovely and so were the ladies!