Seasonal Flower Guides
Below you will find my seasonal flower guides, a valuable resource which organizes blooming patterns by colour and month, helping you to plan and design your cutting patch and share with clients seasonal availability of blooms for their event.
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This guide is based on mostly annuals and biennials with a few perennials thrown in which are the most valuable for cut flower growers. These are the blooms which I have grown on my own cutting patches here in Hampshire UK. They are based on my capabilities with a small polytunnel, some low caterpillar tunnels and two large cold frames. I also use heat mats and propagation lids but do not use grow lights.
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The list is not exhaustive, it does not contain every single available variety in every colour but gives a good indication of what is possible in the UK climate with good succession sowing and basic equipment. There will also be many flowers which I have not yet grown or which are just too troublesome and not worth the effort as the failure rate is so high without perfect conditions, or the length of time taken to grow is soo long that with such a small patch the return on investment is just not there - I put Lisianthus in this camp at the moment, although there are some growers in the South West where conditions are more favourable for a more lucrative return. You can also use this guide alongside the Seed Sowing Schedule which will guide you when to sow each variety.
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Spring
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I have started the guides in Springtime. For much of the UK in a regular year this would be March. It is entirely possible in a particularly warm year, in the south of England, under cover with perfect conditions to get earlier crops. Especially with some heat & light, however I wanted the guide to reflect every day reality as many growers will not have these perfect conditions.
So during early March I would expect the first few blooms to come through mainly under cover for Anemones and then be followed by Tulips and then a few Ranunculus. With the bulk of the Tulips flowering in April and Ranunclus across April & May. It is totally possible to extend the seasons on tulips by choosing early, mid & late varieties, growing then in crates to move to a more suitable location and storing the pulled blooms in the fridge for upto 3 weeks. I often find that many of my chosen varieties tend to be quite late and not the early types. This is down to personal preference and the types of events and clients you have.
For greenhouse/ polytunnel growing April is also the month when the first blooms will start to appear for some of those hardy annuals which have been autumn sowed - Orlaya, Cornflower, Icelandic Poppies, Snaps, Nigella etc.
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For May, considered the hungry gap month is for me anything but. With many hardy annuals making a bigger appearance and towards the end of the month the long awaited sweetpeas start to flower especially of kept under cover. By the end of the month the Ranunculus tend to tail off but are replaced by Peonies, Lupins & Foxgloves.
Summer
During June the Peonies and Ranunculus tail off and the abundance really begins, with such a large selection of blooms to choose from, the flower patch will be overflowing and some blooms may need to be saved for drying and seed collection.
Multiple staggered sowings will give an abundance throughout July and August, with Celosia, China Asters, Zinnia, Dahlias and Amaranth joining for the ride.
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Dahlias will grow more and more prolific throughout August although some varieties will show their Diva nature and may refuse to bloom until into September (Cafe au lait, I'm looking at you )
Autumn
September - Seriously the best month with sooooo many Dahlias..... they absolutely love September here in the UK, teemed with zinnias and China Asters they will really put on a spectacular show. Other annuals will tail off as the days grow shorter bit the cosmos will keep giving as long as it is regularly deadheaded and doesn't rain too much which will spoil the blooms.
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One word of warning though as our weather is so fickle the earliest frost I have had in the south of England which finished off my Dahlias season is 5th September. That year the China asters & Crysanthemums saved my bacon for my September weddings.
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If we are lucky the frost will not arrive until some time in October or November, but by then the Crysanthemums will be blooming and go right through to December along with a range of berries.
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For me that is usually the end of my farming year as I prepare for Christmas workshops and start my present shoipping!
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