My son is getting married! And, my wonderful daughter-in-law-to-be has invited me to contribute flowers to the celebration. Woo hoo!
I’m so excited. This means a cutting garden. I’ve always planted for the beauty of sitting outside watching butterflies and bees while enjoying the beauty and scent of the blossoms. Yes, a few made their way indoors, but it was never intentional. I’ve never had a cutting garden.
The planning started shortly after the New Year began. I decided to concentrate on a white color scheme. My gardens already have lots of pinks, purples and reds, so the purposeful addition of whites will help pull together floral arrangements.
Out come the seed catalogs! I ordered white versions of sunflowers, coneflowers, giant marigolds, hollyhocks, cosmos, zinnias, scabiosa and bunnygrass. I also ordered adorable white pansies even though they aren’t particularly good for floral arrangements. The hollyhocks are intriguing because they came in several heights, double-blossoms or not, and varying shades of white.
Then because winter wasn’t over and I was still totally jazzed about being able to contribute to the wedding fun, I decided to investigate dahlias. I’ll save the details for another blog, but let it suffice to say I have white dahlias in the mix.
An early trip to Menards Hardware added white gladiolus to my plan. Yes, I know they won’t bloom until late summer or early fall well past the wedding reception, but I just couldn’t resist. I have them already planted in the back corner garden so I can see them while Dave grills dinner.
The bride-to-be is hoping for something big, fluffy and showy like peonies or hydrangeas. I have both and in white, but one may be done blooming too early and other may not get its act in gear until too late. So for lack of a better plan I fertilized both shrubs and had a good long talk with them about timing.
I’ve read all the planting directions, details on height and bloom time. I marked packages with where each should be planted. Now I just need the fear of frost to abate so I can plant.
It’s going to be a great summer!
Kary Beck, a gardener 
Once everything is in the ground, start planning for ways to speed or slow down some of the plants. A bit of shade will slow things down, but it’s tricky to shade just enough to slow, but not enough to have them drop buds. I’ll be curious to see how you work it out! Good luck!
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Found it interesting that BHG just posted an article about white blossoms this morning http://www.bhg.com/gardening/design/color/white-flower-garden-ideas Though these aren’t necessarily good for a cutting garden.
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