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The Cut Flower Patch: Grow your own cut flowers all year round
An inspiring guide to transforming a small patch of ground, be it on an allotment or in a garden, into a cut flower patch which produces flowers from early spring to late autumn.
Louise Curley looks at what makes a great cut flower, ideal conditions and soil and the tools you’ll need. There is advice on what to grow – from favourite hardy annuals, half hardies and biennials to spring and summer bulbs to adding foliage and fillers to balance arrangements – and advice on how and when to sow, how to support your plants and tips on weeding, deadheading, pests and feeding.
Growing your own means greater choice, working with the seasons and super fresh flowers. Bought flowers can be expensive and the international flower trade often means dangerous chemicals, poor working conditions for growers, demands on water resources and the ‘flower miles’ of worldwide airfreight.
This book will help you get the most from your patch with guidance on how to cut the flowers so that they keep producing more blooms and how to look after them once they have been picked. The Cut Flower Patch is completed by a selection of flower arranging tips and sample arrangements as well as tips on finding great containers, planting plans and a helpful year planner
The Cut Flower Patch won the ‘Best Practical Book’ at the Garden Media Guild Awards, 2014
Jason Ingram won Photographer of the Year at the Garden Media Guild Awards, 2014
Louise Curley looks at what makes a great cut flower, ideal conditions and soil and the tools you’ll need. There is advice on what to grow – from favourite hardy annuals, half hardies and biennials to spring and summer bulbs to adding foliage and fillers to balance arrangements – and advice on how and when to sow, how to support your plants and tips on weeding, deadheading, pests and feeding.
Growing your own means greater choice, working with the seasons and super fresh flowers. Bought flowers can be expensive and the international flower trade often means dangerous chemicals, poor working conditions for growers, demands on water resources and the ‘flower miles’ of worldwide airfreight.
This book will help you get the most from your patch with guidance on how to cut the flowers so that they keep producing more blooms and how to look after them once they have been picked. The Cut Flower Patch is completed by a selection of flower arranging tips and sample arrangements as well as tips on finding great containers, planting plans and a helpful year planner
The Cut Flower Patch won the ‘Best Practical Book’ at the Garden Media Guild Awards, 2014
Jason Ingram won Photographer of the Year at the Garden Media Guild Awards, 2014
- GenresGardeningNonfiction
478 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 6, 2014
15 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 11, 2021
A very good introductory book for those looking into growing a cut flower patch.
Beautiful imagery, lots of good information and very easy to understand
Beautiful imagery, lots of good information and very easy to understand
May 3, 2014
This is lovely book for everyone who would like to have a wee bunch of flowers in their home. It is perfect for the novice gardener as it covers all the basics of starting a garden and how to raise seedlings. However it is also useful for experienced gardeners who need some tips on how to care for cut flowers - bashing stems, dipping in hot water etc can make a difference to the vase life of some flowers.
January 8, 2015
Pleasant, a nice first intro. Personally I prefer Sarah Raven's books, but one especially nice thing about this one for beginners is that the number of flowers discussed is limited and small patch planting guide provided, so as not to get overwhelmed.
February 20, 2018
For anyone who craves plants – better still – flowering plants, sometimes there seems little alternative to store-bought blooms. In dark, cold midwinter, a grocery store bouquet can fill the gap until the first sprigs of winter honeysuckle open on my backyard hedge.
But even during the warmer seasons of floral blitz, I hesitate to denude my flower borders in order to furnish decorations for the house. Then I found English gardener Louise Curley’s The Cut Flower Patch. Sure, for centuries, gardeners with enough space have reserved spots solely for cut flowers. But in my small, increasingly shaded yard, a dedicated cutting garden seemed an unattainable luxury.
Still, a gardener can dream, so I leafed through Curley’s book and noticed that she didn’t strip her home garden either. Instead, she turned to that British institution – allotment gardens -- community gardens.
In clear and charming language, Curley lays the out the basics, with chapters on suitable plants. Beautiful blossoms are a must, but other considerations include how heavily a plant flowers; whether it has stem lengths suitable for cutting – eliminating the dwarfish cultivars breeders in recent decades have concentrated on. She provides information also on cultivating foliage plants to bulk up bouquets; on the planning, preparation and care of a cutting patch; and how – and when – to cut those luscious blooms.
With the aid of Jason Ingram’s photos, The Cut Flower Patch also brims with ideas for using the flower bounty available from a dedicated cutting garden: displays, including flowers for special events such as weddings; to-do calendars; and a brief history of the traditional commercial flower growing in Great Britain.
Favorite flowers for cutting run heavily to annuals – plants that complete their life cycle, including blooming – within a single year. But Curley also addresses biennials – flowers that grow from seed one year and bloom the next, and the various possibilities from more permanent plants grown from bulbs, corms and tubers.
And she considers the benefits of flowering plants to wildlife, including beneficial insects, and the environmental impact of local flowers compared to those available for sale, which are often shipped to local florists in cold storage from faraway continents.
Because Curley gardens in England, she favors plants that can cope with cold, wet winters and relatively short growing seasons. Gardeners in other climates, especially U.S. gardeners will need to adjust planting times and flower candidates accordingly.
We’ll need to check with local garden societies and gardeners for plants suitable to whatever climate we garden in. And to look around at what actually blooms and when. But for inspiration, I’ll take Curley’s book.
But even during the warmer seasons of floral blitz, I hesitate to denude my flower borders in order to furnish decorations for the house. Then I found English gardener Louise Curley’s The Cut Flower Patch. Sure, for centuries, gardeners with enough space have reserved spots solely for cut flowers. But in my small, increasingly shaded yard, a dedicated cutting garden seemed an unattainable luxury.
Still, a gardener can dream, so I leafed through Curley’s book and noticed that she didn’t strip her home garden either. Instead, she turned to that British institution – allotment gardens -- community gardens.
In clear and charming language, Curley lays the out the basics, with chapters on suitable plants. Beautiful blossoms are a must, but other considerations include how heavily a plant flowers; whether it has stem lengths suitable for cutting – eliminating the dwarfish cultivars breeders in recent decades have concentrated on. She provides information also on cultivating foliage plants to bulk up bouquets; on the planning, preparation and care of a cutting patch; and how – and when – to cut those luscious blooms.
With the aid of Jason Ingram’s photos, The Cut Flower Patch also brims with ideas for using the flower bounty available from a dedicated cutting garden: displays, including flowers for special events such as weddings; to-do calendars; and a brief history of the traditional commercial flower growing in Great Britain.
Favorite flowers for cutting run heavily to annuals – plants that complete their life cycle, including blooming – within a single year. But Curley also addresses biennials – flowers that grow from seed one year and bloom the next, and the various possibilities from more permanent plants grown from bulbs, corms and tubers.
And she considers the benefits of flowering plants to wildlife, including beneficial insects, and the environmental impact of local flowers compared to those available for sale, which are often shipped to local florists in cold storage from faraway continents.
Because Curley gardens in England, she favors plants that can cope with cold, wet winters and relatively short growing seasons. Gardeners in other climates, especially U.S. gardeners will need to adjust planting times and flower candidates accordingly.
We’ll need to check with local garden societies and gardeners for plants suitable to whatever climate we garden in. And to look around at what actually blooms and when. But for inspiration, I’ll take Curley’s book.
March 4, 2018
Lots of useful information, including on selecting and growing flowers, conditioning them, making arrangements, etc. Good info on planning to have flowers through the seasons.
June 25, 2022
Good book. However author lives in England so not everything applies. Token down by season LIKE that she’s give info on growing flowers as well as. CUTTING TIPS
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews