Grow cut flowers - our best tips
Is there anything more luxurious than filling your home with beautiful flowers? Unfortunately, it is expensive and not particularly sustainable to run to the florist every time you want to embellish your home with lush greenery. For those who instead grow their own flowers, in pallet collars or pots on the balcony or in the garden, completely different possibilities open up. Annual summer flowers are extremely abundant in bloom and you will be able to harvest flowers from the end of June right up until frost. There will be MANY bouquets to decorate your home with at the same time as you can enjoy the sea of flowers outside. That a few single seeds in the ground can give so much pleasure for so long is nothing less than a small miracle.
Growing summer flowers requires patience and space. You need to have room for a pallet collar in your garden or on your patio. The flowers grow slowly at first and then completely explode in late summer and then need a lot of space in the soil. During some parts of the process it will feel like nothing is happening – but trust us – the work you put in and the waiting for the flowering to take off – will pay off handsomely in late summer!
There are a plethora of cut flower seeds on the market in different colors, shapes, heights and degrees of difficulty. Identifying the gems in this jungle is far from easy. And if you want to find varieties that match nicely in both style and size, it becomes even more complicated.
After many years of experimenting and just as many failures, we've whittled down our absolute favorites. Both timeless classics and sassy newcomers that feel modern right now. In addition to being stylish, they're easy to pull off.
In our range you will find ready-made bouquet collections in different colors and styles. You can find all our bouquet collections here .
We also have a carefully selected seed assortment of cut flowers. In the assortment you will find our absolute favorites that are beautiful, worth growing and that give a rich harvest. You can find all cut flower seeds here.
Who can grow summer flowers?
Anyone who has a garden or space for a pallet collar or larger growing container on the patio or balcony has the conditions to grow summer flowers. If you are also looking for more beautiful enjoyment in everyday life, cut flower growing is a perfect hobby. The feelings you develop for the flowers you have managed to grow yourself are something special! Don't forget that the journey is at least as exciting, educational and rewarding as the result. Growing summer flowers is not difficult, so it is suitable for both beginners and slightly more experienced growers . By growing your own cut flowers, you are also contributing to a more sustainable world. You harvest the most local produce and also contribute to creating better conditions for endangered bees and other pollinators.
However, you should remember that growing requires both time and commitment. If you already know that you will be away for a large part of the summer, you need a realistic plan for how the flowers will be taken care of. They need to be constantly watered and cared for in order to survive. There are good irrigation systems available to buy, but these require a small investment. So be realistic when planning your cultivation! Having a lot of plants that you then don't have time to take care of is not something we recommend.
Things to consider before sowing your seeds
Before you start your sowing, it is a good idea to think about how much space you have for the flowers when they have grown to full size. It is easy to sow too many seeds and then end up with far too many plants. You do not need to sow all the seeds in the bag, but can save some for next season or if you need to sow another batch if the first sowing fails.
What do I need to have at home?
In its simplest form, what you have received in the growing collection is enough – i.e. seeds, growing briquettes and markers to mark the seeds with. The briquettes can be placed directly on a dish that fits on the windowsill and covered with plastic wrap or an old plastic bag after you have sown your seeds. More information about how to grow in briquettes can be found here .
If you want to make the sowing a little more professional, you can buy a greenhouse with a plastic lid. It works like a mini greenhouse where you create a good moist environment for the seeds to germinate in. At the bottom of the greenhouse, you can put a so-called capillary mat, a cloth that absorbs water and helps you create even and good irrigation of the seeds. After 1-2 months, it is time to replant the plants. Then you need pots and a bag of nutritious planting soil of good quality. We usually buy hard plastic pots with dimensions of approximately 10*10 cm. In these, the flower has good space to grow. At the same time, square pots are easier to dispose of so that the flowers do not take up too much space indoors. The pots are placed on a growing tray, dish or a tray with a rim. Then you can water the pots from below, which helps the roots to find their way down into the pot and you get a more viable plant. More detailed instructions on how to sow different seeds can be found under the collections . Everything we describe above can be purchased at a garden store or hardware store.
Create the right conditions when planting summer flowers
All summer flowers love sun! Therefore, make sure to plant them where they get as much sun as possible to maximize the harvest. It is also important to think about how the flowers should be placed in the pallet collar or flower bed. Taller flowers should be further back so as not to obscure and steal sunlight from the lower varieties. The appropriate distance between the plants is stated in the recommendation on each seed bag. If they are spaced too thinly, the flower bed will not be maximized, and if they are too close together, they will take too much nutrition from each other. If you are going to plant many plants next to each other, it can be a good idea to make a simple sketch of how they should be arranged and follow it when planting out. Not everything needs to be meticulous - the collections contain such beautiful flowers that all fit together nicely so that it will be good no matter what you do.
Choose the right soil and provide nutrition
It is important to use really good quality soil when planting summer flowers. Summer flowers are nutrient-hungry so it should be heavily fertilized soil. We usually choose the slightly more expensive potting soil that you find in the store and top it with cow manure to give the soil an extra boost. Think 2/3 potting soil and 1/3 cow manure when planting summer flowers.
To maximize the harvest throughout the season, we recommend continuously watering the flowers with nutrients. An easy fertilizer to work with is chicken manure. If you want to create your own nutrient water with chicken manure, you can mix about 5 dl of pelleted chicken manure with 10 liters of water and let it stand for a day or so. Stir and then strain the water before watering it out. Dilute the fertilizer water before watering – mix 1 part fertilizer water with 9 parts water.
If you have a lawn, you have access to other natural fertilizers. We always throw grass clippings on flower beds and in pots. It both provides nutrients and helps the soil maintain a nice structure.
Keep an eye on the weather – summer flowers are sensitive to frost
Unfortunately, summer flowers cannot withstand a frosty night. Therefore, make sure that you are absolutely sure that the risk of frost is over before you plant the flower. Those of us who live in the Stockholm area usually use the first weekend in June as a benchmark. If you live in the south, it can be a few weeks earlier and in the north a few weeks later. Should there suddenly be a cold night, it is good to have a cloth that you can cover the flowers with. A non-woven cloth that you buy at a garden store or hardware store works great.
Give the flower support
Many flowers need plant support to reach their full potential. Phlox and asters look best if they are supported by chicken wire that is attached over the pallet collar or the flower bed through which they can wind their way up. This will raise them a bit off the ground, which both reduces the risk of snail infestation and allows the beautiful flowers to emerge better. Some tall varieties, such as sunflowers, amaranths, zinnias and clematis, also need to be supported by a stake to stand firmly in the flower bed. Here you can use stakes found in nature or buy bamboo stakes or other flower stakes.
Watch out for snails
Unfortunately, it is not only us humans who love beautiful flowers, even snails have a preference for certain varieties. Zinnias, rudbeckias and phlox are often eaten by snails, and it is important to be quick to remove uninvited guests. The snails come out when it gets dark, especially after rain, and it is then a good idea to walk around the garden and remove all those you see. You can also sprinkle snail pellets around the flowers, which the snails eat instead of the flowers, but this is not enough and manual work is also required.
Keep the flowerbed and pallet collar tidy
Summer flowers can grow quite large under the right conditions. This can create a bit of creative chaos in the flowerbed or border when they have all grown. One way to create a more orderly impression is to keep the edges straight and cut away anything that grows over and outside. The contrast between a clean line and a multitude of flowers is very nice.
Our bouquet collections
We have put together bouquet collections in different styles.
Romantic Bouqet Collection - a stunningly beautiful collection that changes with the colors of the season: muted and burnt tones of apricot, cream, purple and pink. Romantic and modern at the same time.
Coco Bouquet Collection - a collection where we have combined the fashion lions of flowers: five prima donnas with strong colors and shapes that together form a stylish unit.
Bon Bon Bouquet Collection. Like peering into a candy bowl filled with pastel caramels - that's the feeling you get when you hold this lovely bouquet in your hand.
Drama Queen Bouquet Collection . Life is more fun with drama, strong colors and emotions! Here we have a collection that is bursting with color and confidence.
Grace Bouquet Collection - a sober and sophisticated bouquet collection in a subdued color scheme with cream and lime as a base.
Culinary Bouquet Collection - a bouquet collection so beautiful you'll want to eat it! How lucky you are that that's exactly what you can do. Edible flowers are one of the best things we know - imagine that one and the same flower can bring joy in the flowerbed, the bouquet and on the plate.
