What flowers to grow on my allotment

wifefaefife

Hi,

I'm planning ahead for next year and I would like to grow more flowers on my plo but I don't really have a clue. I want ones that I can cut to put in a vase. This year I have grown sweet peas and they have been lovely also very easy to grow from seed.


TIA

snakepilsen

marigolds are a great pollinator and the bees love Borage.

alanobrien

Also Nasturtium are good sacrificial plants. By that i mean i grow them so that greenfly/blackfly/ and cabbage whites etc go for them rather than my crops. I tend to put them at each corner of a bed i want to protect and it works well.
Herbs are also good to grow to keep beasties at bay.
Search on "companion planting" to see what i mean.

pinkparrott

Sarah raven has a good book on growing cut flowers , have a look at her website or see if you can get the book from the library .
Try to grow a plant for foliage too - I tried euphorbia oblongata which was recommended in her book and its lasted for 2 Yeats and really adds a bright zesty zing to cut flowers , I often add some to bought flowers too.
I' m going to try dahlias next year too

Loanranger

I vote for dahlias too.

Fay

What about roses? For annuals I think cosmos are beautiful and give a lot of bang for your buck. Something like gypsophila as a filler too?

madjackslam

I'd vote for dahlias, and gladioli (you can often get cheap corms - they work well as cut flowers, but I don't think look so good in borders). An allotment near me has grown sunflowers, the most enormous I have ever seen. They must be good for attracting pollinators, and useful birds for the seeds.

Floss

Traditional lottie flowers are dhalias, crysanthemums, gladioli, sweet peas. Also honeysuckle is good for disguising an ugly fence or shed, as is clematis.

wifefaefife

Thanks all. I will look into that book Pinkparrot.

savemoney

I got my disused plot this year. I grow clematis to hide a frame I built to protect windows from vandals hitting golf balls, Gladiola (nice cut flowers) sweet peas, Roses normal and climbing. Lavender, pinks, Hydrangea, wild flower bed (bees love it). Rose rugosa (hedge) the flowers are very highly scented and hedge acts as a good deterrent from Thieves which we get a lot now on our allotments 3 thefts past 10 days alone.They tried but didn't get out from me.

forgotmyname

FIL said plant marigolds. I forget why now but its supposed to repel something?

Borage.. Wow.. I spotted some of that on a plot, Swarming with bees. I thought i want some of that. I spoke too soon. Seems it grows like a weed and spreads everywhere. I didnt plant any yet i have it in serveral places.

Somehow i managed to get it in my back garden also.