Cutting Gardens Yield Fresh, Fragrant Returns

One of the delights of gardening is gathering a basketful of fresh-cut flowers to fill the house with fragrance and eye-catching color.

A well-planned landscape can yield ample flowers for enjoyment indoors as well as outdoors, say garden professionals.

“We’ve noticed just in the last year that an increasing number of Orange County residents are turning away from the once-popular quick and easy, low-maintenance landscape designs. More of our clients are requesting flower-filled landscapes,” says Kathryn Rue, who operates Innovative Landscapes in Fullerton with her partner, Sue Romiti.

“We teach our clients to incorporate flowers suitable for cutting throughout the landscape and to use varied plant materials,” she adds.

The tradition of cutting gardens evolved when landowners had ample space to devote to flowers. Before the advent of modern hybridizing, many flowering plants were untidy in their growth and presented a disheveled appearance in the landscape.

“The idea of a formal cutting garden, usually situated in an obscure part of the garden, solved the problem of how to produce multiple harvests of flowers for indoors while retaining an aesthetically pleasing garden vista,” says landscape architect Shirley Kerins of Huntington Beach. “But with smaller lots and improved plant materials, it’s possible to achieve the same results by including plants suitable for cut flowers throughout the entire landscape.”

Marilyn Ediss has been a garden hobbyist for most of her life, and when she acquired her Fullerton house 12 years ago, a floral garden was an important part of her landscaping. She planted roses, daisies and agapanthus in her front garden.

“I had a full-time job and could only spend a limited amount of time gardening, so these plants gave me ample cut flowers with relatively little maintenance involved,” she says.

Recently, she retired and could devote more time to her gardening efforts. She retained Innovative Landscapes to redesign the front garden, and Romiti collaborated with her to achieve a maximum floral yield in a small space.

“I wanted a circular driveway and had only a limited amount of gardening space left,” says Ediss. “Since I love to fill my house with fresh flowers and dried arrangements, plants that will produce abundant cut flowers are important to me.”

She estimates she grows 100 plants in her spacious front garden. In addition to some newly planted roses, Ediss also planted various types of daisies, coreopsis, cosmos, gypsophilia paniculate (baby’s breath), agapanthus, delphinium, foxglove and salvia.

She includes statice for dried flower arrangements and also grows herbs, including oregano and marjoram, for their flowers as well as their culinary uses.

In spring, her home-grown bouquets include daffodils, iris, ranunculus and larkspur.

“I also enjoy clivia, a bright orange flower that is so vibrant in winter and is long-lasting as a cut flower,” Ediss says.

Homeowners who want a drought-tolerant garden also can enjoy their own floral bouquets.

“With the growing demand for drought-tolerant plants, a wider selection is now available,” says Romiti. “The color palette has expanded, and many of these plants will produce flowers for cutting.”

Her recommendations include Matilija poppies, marigolds, watsonia, California fuchsia (hummingbird flower), rosemary, various types of lavenders, freesia, narcissus and Dutch iris. Holly and nandina (heavenly bamboo) both produce red berries for attractive Christmas decor.

Shrubs also can be planted for their foliage, a necessary component of floral arrangements. Leatherleaf fern is among the most popular. Pittosporum and podocarpus can be grown as either shrubs or trees and are popular evergreens valued for their deep green foliage.

The Mirror plant (Coprosma repens) is a drought-tolerant shrub native to New Zealand that produces very shiny, glossy green leaves also suitable for foliage in flower arrangements.

Other recommendations include flowers grown for their fragrance, such as the candytuft, lilies, nicotiana and sweet peas.