Cutting Garden Favorites for Mother’s Day

With Mother’s Day coming this weekend I started to think about the different flowers I could put into a floral display for my mother and my wife. My cutting garden is not ready yet, but I can easily find flowers among the other beds. There are not many flowers open for Mother’s Day, but the ones that are, are often recalled as being old-fashioned, and are rarely used in newer landscaping beds. However, I have several customers that love the old-fashioned look of irises and peonies. And I find that the native baptisias are also great for flower arrangements.

 

Here at Grimm’s we continually strive to bring the best flowers to our customers. Last fall when we were deciding cultivars to keep for the next year, we went over the many baptisias available. Several new ones can be found but I love the look of our three big choices blooming together in our perennial section-‘Cherries Jubilee’, ‘Blueberry Sundae’, and ‘Lemon Meringue.’ These three we selected for there flower production, bloom length, and height in the garden. Baptisia makes excellent cut flowers and will last for a long time in a vase. 

Baptisia ‘Blueberry Sundae’, ‘Cherries Jubilee’, and ‘Lemon Meringue’ blooming at Grimm’s

Peonies are another old fashioned favorite that can be found in many older home gardens, farmsteads, and botanical gardens. Herbaceous peonies, prized for there wonderful scents, are great used in a cutting garden for arrangement. Peonies also make nice shrub-like perennials for the garden and can grow in full sun to light shade. While tree peonies are very beautiful, they do not take to cutting as well as herbaceous ones. 

Another old-time favorite is iris. In the landscape industry, tall, Japanese and Siberian irises of many colors are used for landscaping and can also be used for cutting gardens. However, the tall bearded iris of the old homestead are very fragrant, each with its own unique smell. The purple irses in my yard smell like grape soda and the rusty colored ones like root beer! There are hundreds of varieties available, but it is necessary to check out colors and fragrances at a botanical garden or university. The iris collection at Kansas State University is quite large and is a sight to behold. 

The author’s Grape Soda Bearded Iris

When Mother’s Day rolls around, what are you going to get for yours? Come out to Grimm’s Gardens and see our selection of baptisia, peonies, and irises. 

 

Happy planting!

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