Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Kyle Chesser

A potting table can double as a flower arrangement station, limiting the mess of cutting and stripping stems to the outdoors.

When you grow annuals suitable for cutting, you’ll rarely need a florist. Nearly any flower that has long stems and lasts in water makes a good cutflower. For a steady supply of vase-worthy blooms, sow both cool-season and warm-season selections.

Grow flowers for cutting in your regular garden, harvesting them judiciously to avoid leaving gaps in your beds, but if arranging flowers is your primary passion, you’ll probably want to plant a garden especially for cutting. When you designate a garden area for cutting plants, try to situate it where a perfect presentation isn’t important – depending on your rate of harvest, there will be bald spots here and there when bloom time is in full swing. Remember when planting to leave room for access; you’ll need to get in and out just as you would in a vegetable garden.

Confine your flower harvesting to mornings, when the weather’s cool and plants have recovered fully from the previous day’s heat. Check for blooms that are just beginning to open, and cut the stems diagonally with clean, sharp pruning shears or other sharp cutting tool. Immerse the stems of your flowers in a bucket of tepid water immediately after cutting them. This helps condition them, and they’ll last longer. When cutting poppies, dahlias, Mexican sunflowers or other flowers that have stems filled with milky sap, sear the cut ends of each stem with the heat of a candle flame before placing them in water; this will prevent the formation of air locks in the stem that can block the plant’s water uptake.

After you’ve placed your flowers in water, let them sit in a cool place out of the sun. Several hours later – even overnight – cut the stems again at a 45-degree angle under running water. Before you start arranging your flowers in a vase, remove any low-lying foliage that will end up underwater, as decay quickly turns leaves slimy.