As a first-year flower farmer, I had more than three favorite flowers, but these were my top three. Each flower has one thing in common: they are cut and come again. Cut and come again flowers make small-scale flower farming possible. These flowers are workhorses in the growing department. They produce and produce, delivering new blooms every day in peak season.
Dahlias
My cut-flower garden relies on Dahlias to make bouquets for my customers. I make my bouquets flower-heavy, which means most of my stems are dahlias, and the rest are filler flowers or foliage. But when I market my bouquets, I say the customer will get 15-18 stems of flowers. Then, I fill in with filler flowers and foliage until the bouquet looks full and done.
I love dahlias because they come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. I love the ball dahlias and am a sucker for all the fall tones in dahlias. I also love that these are cut-and-come flowers. When I stay up on cutting them, they produce so many blooms.
We started our dahlias in the greenhouse in grow bags to give them room to root out and shoot up. Our zone is Zone 6, so our weather can be tricky until June. We have seen frost in late May, so we tend to put out our flowers later to avoid loss. Starting them in our greenhouse works perfectly for us in our climate.
Strawflower
I was initially not too fond of strawflowers, but once they started growing, I was in love. They provide such a fantastic texture to bouquets. I love that I can cut them; they will continue opening up in the bouquet. Once they are fully open, they are pretty. The petals are rough and sound dry, but the middles are soft. The differing textures are something to be admired in a bouquet. They add a roughness to my bouquets, and I like their attitude.
Strawflowers are consistently the flower that customers ask about. I love putting a couple of strawflowers in my bouquets for this reason. They are also cut-and-come-again flowers that make small-scale flower farming doable.
I also love strawflowers because they can be dried and keep their color. They preserve their color so well that I dry a bouquet of them to display through fall and sometimes winter. Drying them is a simple decor hack that I use in our home.
Snapdragons
It’s my favorite spike for all my bouquets. I will be planting many more Snapdragons next year. They are my favorite filler flower. They are so eye-catching because they stick up out of my bouquets. Their strong stem adds sturdiness to the bouquet, but they have tender petals, making them perfect for adding to any bouquet.
The colors Snapdragons come in are so pretty. I also love that these are cut-an-come-again flowers. I love that I can cut them; they will continue to bloom as the bouquet sits. I cut my Snapdragons when about 1/3 of the flowers have bloomed.
These flowers could make a beautiful bouquet with their different textures and shapes. If you don’t have a lot of space, you could plant Dahlias, Strawflowers, and Snapdragons—and make a beautiful bouquet with just three flowers!! If you have extra space for a fourth flower, choose basil. It’s the perfect foliage to add to any bouquet. It’s also a cut-and-come-again.