My Favorite Cut Flower Seed Sources for the Home Gardener
Last week I promised you I’d send my favorite seed sources for growing the best cut flower varieties.
I intend to keep that promise!
Now, before I dive into my favorite places to buy cut flower seed, I have two tips from you. Just two.
First, I encourage you to avoid buying seed from grocery stores or big hardware stores. Honestly the seeds are fine. You’d be fine getting them from a place like Lowes, for example. I’m just picky because they usually don’t have a great selection for cut flowers. Plus, they are usually not stored properly, or treated properly. I don’t think anything terrible will happen if you buy from a grocery store, you just might not get great results.
Second, don’t try to save your own seeds from previous year’s plants. Why? Cross pollination. It is very hard to make a plant produce a seed exactly identical to the mother plant. So a rainbow bed of celosia might only yield yellow the next year, or a bed of purple benary giant zinnias might only yield single petaled flowers the following year. It could be fun to experiment! But if you’re looking for a particular look, just buy new seed every year.
Below I have listed my favorite places to buy cut flower seed.
They are my favorite places because
-They are known for their specialty cut flower varieties
-They will be free of disease
-The seed has been treated properly
-The seed is new (harvested within the last year)
-They come with clear instructions on how/when to grow them
Your local nursery.
Emphasis on local. Locally owned by friends who really care about what they are selling and can answer your seed starting questions.
Here in Mooresville, I recommend Brawley Garden Center.
2. Order them from one of these four online seed shops that specialize in cut flowers. I have ordered from all of these places and have loved my experience every time.
1. The Gardener’s Workshop
Hands down, Lisa has the best growing tips and only sells the most easy-to-grow
varieties. She totally changed my world with her seed-starting tips, and her seed
is top-notch.
2. 3 Porch Farm
If you’re looking for flowers that will grow well in the heat of the south, 3 Porch
Farm will give you seed that they grow in Georgia with great success.
3. Johnny’s Selected Seeds
Both home gardeners and commercial flower farmers get their seed from
Johnny’s. They have a wide expanse of choices, some great educational videos,
and you can buy both in small packet quantities and bulk.
4. Floret
Have you seen Magnolia Network’s show, “Growing Floret”? Erin is basically the
queen of the flower farming world, and the flowers she is breeding for seed will
likely be all over the world soon. Some of the hardest-to-find varieties and rarest,
most unique varieties will be on her site. Be warned: they usually sell out within
an hour of going live. It’s kind of obnoxious.
There ya have it! Be sure to let me know if you have any questions, comments, or emotional outbursts! ;)
