Suitable Plants For Flower Arranging

Highgrove

Have joined a flower arranging class and would be grateful for ideas on suitable flowers and greenery that I could grow in the garden to cut down the cost.

lemon1

Stuff that grows back every year and lasts well when cut.. showy flowers like hydrangeas, kniffophia, lilies, dahlias, calla/arum lilies.. all make great focal flowers.
Montbretia and snapdragons arrive every year and come in a variety of bright colours.
Greenery wise the garden is your oyster! Long straight stemmed foliages are good like griselinia- a lime green waxy foliage that lasts well when cut, weigelia- the varigated varieties are particularly pretty but need to be conditioned well before use, Laurel is great for use in tall designs, scenicio is a pretty pale grey silvery coloured foliage that looks amazing with plums, purples, pinks, blues etc also has bright yellow flowers may/june/julyish.
Interesting shaped foliages such as Hebe and rosemary are lovely in smaller designs.
For big leaves you can place in the focal areas in your designs plant fatsia japonica as well as Berginia. Hosta has a really pretty leaf shape- if you can keep the slugs away
Sedums are brilliant for lasting and can either be used in bud or in flower, both look equally pleasing to the eye in a design. Same applies for Skimmia they have lovely glossy dark green leaves and bloom of rose pink buds in autumn season.
Ivy is lovely to trail in your designs or use individual leaves in wedding work for example, either plant some in your garden or a plant in your bathroom. So many varieties to choose from but white/silver pale green varieties are unusual and look stunning against most colours.

Hope that helps, happy planting and arranging

JessicAhh

Some of these will be the wrong time of the year, but I love the following (mostly quite rustic, so depends what you're aiming for!)...

Roses
Peonies
Dahlias (the ones with larger sized heads)
Alliums
Gypsophila (my gran used to use this a lot, so may be considered somewhat passe now!)
Sweet peas
Tulips
Delphinium (need to get types that are relatively self-supporting, or find ways to support them in arrangements)
Dianthus / Pinks
Holly (for Xmas arrangements)


Nice, helpful RHS article: http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=603
And one about how to prepare plants to last in arrangements: http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=668

Highgrove

Wow, thank you so much. A wealth of ideas! Thanks also for the links.

dumpy

Sarah Raven wrote a book about the cut flower garden and suggests all kinds of layouts and what to grow to get an all year show/supply of flowers for the house.

I think it's called The Cutting Garden

Highgrove

Thanks Dumpy, I will look out for the book.

oldtractor

Sweet Williams are easy to grow and bloom for ages and last well in a vase.

Highgrove

Thanks Old Tractor. Have just googled Sweet William and I particularly like Green Trick which is non flowering. That would look stunning in a flower arrangement.

arbrighton

I've grown 'bog standard' sweet williams this season (planted last year as they are biennials). THey lasted for WEEKS both on the plants and in vases when cut. They seem to be back in fashion as I've seen them for sale in quite a few places this year