I planted my cut flower garden a few weeks ago and have been eagerly awaiting the first signs of life to poke through the ground.
The Lows: When I started planting I realized that the ageratum and strawflower seed packets recommended starting the seeds inside and transplanting them into the garden. The seeds are teenie tiny and aren’t supposed to be covered because light aids in germination. Desperate to get the garden in, I just threw them right into the ground like all the others and now I’m paying for it. There are exactly zero ageratum or strawflowers. So I’m going to call that a learning experience. I’ve debated trying to start them inside now and transplant when they’re ready, but I have a feeling that by that time summer will be over.
I don’t have any poppies coming up either, but their germination time is 14-21 days, so I’m not giving up on them just yet.
The Highs: While I’m crossing my fingers for poppies, I’m loving the plants that are actually coming up and looking really good!
The zinnias are looking the best so far. I got almost 100% germination (there was, like, one that didn’t come up), so I’m super excited about that!
The calendulas are very little, but they’re there! Side note: I have no idea what calendulas look like. I looked them up when I ordered the seeds, but I looked at a lot of flowers and don’t remember which was which. Google could tell me, but I want to be surprised!
Another side note: This picture is very blurry because I took it as Atlas was barreling towards my flowers, so I was reaching out to grab him, but also trying to quickly take pictures, so I could write this post during his nap.
Here’s a sunflower! I planted branching sunflowers because I thought it would be nice to get more than one sunflower per plant. I love sunflowers, but getting only one flower just doesn’t thrill me. I’m hoping that with branching sunflowers, I can have it all!
This is the amaranth. Another flower that will be a surprise because I can’t remember what it looks like.
The cosmos are coming up pretty well. I remember planting these when I did landscaping, and they never really struck me as something that would work in a cut flower garden, but the seed packet says they’re great. I’m trusting the packet.
So, that’s where I am so far! I joined a cut flower video mini-course from Floret Flowers to expand my actual knowledge on how to maximize production (reading the seed packet and getting better germination would be a good start).
I definitely need to water more often…but it’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so I’ll probably see how that goes.
I hope you were able to ignore the weeds. I did actually weed right before writing this.
Spiked M Ranch 
Is the amaranth grown just for cut flower, or is it a vegetable too? It is not my favorite either way, but has been a fad here for a few years. I think that I would really like it as a cut flower if it were not such a fad. It contrasts nicely with the circular sunflower type flowers.
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I didn’t realize that it could be a vegetable, too. I’m growing it as a cut flower. It popped up on a bunch of lists of recommended flowers, so I figured I’d try!
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Despite my dislike for it, it is a remarkably useful plant, especially within its native range where there are not many vegetable plants that would do so well. It is grown for the young greens, and can alternatively be grown as a grain. Then of course, it is pretty sweet as a cut flower. The colors are compatible with sunflower type flowers, but the form is completely different. Even as a background flower for other flowers, it happens to be very pretty and distinctive in contemporary floral design.
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