I remember it like yesterday…staring down the length of one of my rows of cut flowers in the height of summer and feeling completely overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed by the weeds (OMG the weeds!), the dry, clay soil, the flowers, many of which looked weak and spindly. I took a deep breath and went to work, but I felt like a failure. I had to be honest with myself that I didn’t really know what I was doing.

That was the first year I was growing flowers. Here I am 10 years later and the truth is, I still feel daunted at times. And I bet you’ve been there too, especially if you’re just starting out or are contemplating growing flowers.

This is normal. Gardening, however large or small your garden is, is hard work. What’s important is taking action, not getting caught up in distractions, and learning from your mistakes.

This year, my focus is on improving my fencing (so I’m not risking my investment to hungry deer), pre-mixing some foliar sprays for pests, disease and the general health of my plants (having them ready to go means I can get on top of things before they become a problem), and seeding new pathways with ground covers like micro clover so they don’t get overtaken with weeds.  For all of these tasks, I’ve created task lists and scheduled everything and factored in all the existing maintenance I need to do as well. When I’m overwhelmed, I visit my lists, check things off, shuffle things around on the calendar, and get back to work.

Here are a few things to keep in mind if you too are feeling overwhelmed by either the garden you have or the prospect of creating a cutting garden:

1. Most of your success will come down to good planning. This means a plan that looks forward 1 year (or, at least to the end of your growing season), then breaking down your tasks by month and by week, focussing on the tasks that are both important and urgent first (this could mean spending a half-day spent weeding and mulching so you only have minimal upkeep for the rest of the season).

2. Keep your garden simple. If you need your garden to be profitable and manageable in the short term, focus on a few easy-to-grow, high-demand, cut-and-come-again flowers (think chocolate cosmos, Queen Lime zinnias, balloon vine, Cafe Au Lait dahlias), and save the rest of your wishlist for future years. Remember that a lot of your time needs to go into soil building, weed management, composting, etc. – all the things that will help to have a great season next year. Make sure you balance your short-term efforts with long-term efforts.

3. Hone your skills in the absolute best organic gardening methods. Learning by trial and error is not something I recommend….I spent so much time and effort in the first few years just trying to figure things out and as a result, I wasted a lot of that time and effort (and money!). Read up on foliar feeding, mulching, irrigation, etc…these are often the make or break skills for a garden enterprise. Read everything you can especially about how to support your soil. A quote from one of my favourite teachers can be helpful here:

If you’re in over your head, you haven’t gone deep enough. Go deeper.

– Hiro Boga

It’s 100% possible to have a garden that will produce lots of great flowers and not drive you crazy in the process. Make a plan, keep it manageable and realistic, and dive deep into the practice of gardening. And most importantly, don’t let your sense of overwhelm hold you back. Take the first step, then the next. You’ve got this!

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re all coming out of hibernation and heading to the nursery to do our spring plant shopping. I don’t know about you, but I always buy too much and get distracted by the flowers. I know I’m not alone.

 

So as you head out to the nursery, here are a few tips for buying the best flowers for your cutting garden.

Tip #1. Select your plants based on the foliage, not the flowers.

It’s probably pretty obvious that of the two plants in the image below, the one on the right is the one to choose. There are way more leaves; the leaves are lush and a vibrant green. This is a way better option for you. But what if the plant on the left had several beautiful spires of flowers. You’d be tempted right? This is especially important for perennials. Plants with lots of foliage will have a stronger root system. Plants with minimal foliage and say a few buds aren’t likely to have as strong of a root system (the plant energy is being directed towards blooming rather than growth).

 

 

Tip #2. Avoid root bound plants. 

The next thing you want to check out is if the plant is root bound. You can tell this by looking at the base of the pot. If there are thick, stiff roots coming through the drainage holes, then it’s root bound. Rootbound plants will take a bit more work to properly prepare before planting (you need to free up those roots). It’s not to say that you shouldn’t buy them, but just know that they may need more work. And if it’s a flowering shrub (which means it’s slower growing and will naturally take longer to get established, it’s really best to avoid it).

Tip #3. Don’t buy stressed out plants. 

I’m always going on about is the health of the garden, and trying to minimize stress on our plants. If you buy stressed out plants, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Looks can be deceiving – a plant may have lots of beautiful flowers blooming on it but it may have few leaves, or leaves that are yellow, diseased, or if it may have weak stems.

I was shopping with a friend recently who was fixated on buying a gorgeous hellebore but while the flower itself was amazing, there was very little foliage on the plant, and a couple of the leaves had signs of leaf spot. I gently nudged her towards the put that had no blooms but lots of lush, clear leaves. In the long run, she’ll thank me 😉

Images by Kelly Brown.

Perhaps more than any other flower, Bearded Iris have changed the way I look at nature. For my entire life, I thought of Bearded Iris as these sort of gaudy flowers in bright purple tones planted in municipal areas and gas station. They made me want to look away. Little did I know how breathtakingly beautiful these flowers could be.

Bearded Iris are also an incredible cut flower. They have great staying power in a vase, and if you pick a stem with multiple blooms, the tight buds will slowly open as the older blooms begin to fade and shrivel.

And they start out in bright vibrant colours, but then they start to fade into the loveliest muted shades. Dreamy!

I’ve shifted my winter planning over the past couple of years so that most of my seeds and plants are ordered before Christmas, which leaves me free in the new year to study the Bearded Iris catalogues which usually come out between now and mid February.

Many of the best varieties sell out early. So now’s the time to oder. In the Northern Hemisphere, most Bearded Iris are shipped in the summer for early fall planting.

Here are some of my favorites, some new ones that I’m adding to my garden this year, plus a few on my wishlist for future ordering. And below I’ve included a list of where to find the best varieties for your cutting garden. Some of the most beautiful (and most expensive – but hey, it’s worth it) types come direct from those creating new hybrids each year. Keith Keppel, Barry Blyth and the Schreiner family have some incredible ones to choose from.

The best places to buy Bearded Iris online:

http://irisofsissinghurst.com (UK)

http://www.trailsendiris.com (Canada)

https://www.schreinersgardens.com (USA)

http://www.tempotwo.com.au (Australia) – get them fast as they’re closing their doors in June of 2017!

http://www.beardedirisflowers.com (USA)

https://www.suttoniris.com (USA)

http://www.keithkeppeliris.com/index.html (USA)