Blooming Flowers in the Cutting Garden
Early June is such an exciting time at the farm because so much is growing and blooming, especially in my flower garden.
The perennial flower cutting garden is located just outside my main greenhouse at the foot of my long clematis pergola. My gardeners and I spend a lot of time caring for this garden - carefully placing and planting each specimen. Right now it is bursting with vibrant colors - the poppies, roses, lupines, columbines, and dianthus are all blooming profusely. The garden looks beautiful.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
-
- My large flower cutting garden, which measures 150-feet by 90-feet, is growing more and more lush each year. I wanted the plants to be mixed, so every bed is planted with a variety of specimens. Every row of flowers is interesting and colorful.
-
- This garden bed is just outside my fenced flower cutting garden – both are among the first ones seen when visiting my farm.
-
- Lady’s mantle, Alchemilla vulgaris, grows along both sides of the path of my cutting garden. It is a clumping perennial which typically forms a mound of long-stalked, circular, scallop-edge light green leaves, with tiny, star-shaped, chartreuse flowers – they’re so pretty.
-
- Here’s a closer look at the small blossoms. Lady’s mantle grows extremely well in full sun to partial shade and will tolerate near-complete shade. In very hot climates, it prefers some afternoon shade to avoid sun-scald on the leaves.
-
- Lupinus, commonly known as lupin or lupine, is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. The genus includes more than 200 species. It’s always great to see the tall spikes of lupines blooming in the garden.
-
- Here is one in dark purple. Lupines come in lovely shades of purple, pink, white, yellow, and even red. Lupines also make great companion plants, increasing the soil nitrogen for vegetables and other plants nearby. (Photo by Chhiring Sherpa)
-
- Here’s another gorgeous lupine plant – in yellow and soft pink. Their telltale look is a tall, showy spire of flowers with impressive grayish-green textured foliage.
-
- Iris flowers can begin blooming in late winter to early spring. A range of varieties provide extended color in the flower bed. Iris care is minimal once the growing iris is established. I have many iris cultivars growing in the garden. Iris flowers bloom in shades of purple, blue, white, and yellow and include many hybridized versions that are multi-colored.
-
- Dianthus flowers belong to a family of plants that includes carnations and are characterized by their spicy fragrance. Dianthus plants may be found as a hardy annual, biennial, or perennial and most often used in borders or potted displays. There are numerous types of dianthus – most have pink, red, or white flowers with notched petals.
-
- The columbine plant, Aquilegia, is an easy-to-grow perennial that blooms in a variety of colors during spring. With soft-mounding scalloped leaves and delicate blossoms nodding on flower stems, columbine is ideal for borders, cottage gardens or naturalizing wooded areas.
-
- There are more than 65 species of columbine, most ranging in height from one to three feet tall. This is Aquilegia Vulgaris ‘Nora Barlow Pink’.
-
- Here is another columbine in rich, dark purple. The bonnet-like flowers come in single hues and bi-colored in shades of white, pink, crimson, yellow, purple and blue.
-
- Baptisia produces loads of sturdy spikes filled with rich pea-like blossoms that emerge in mid to late spring. The showy terminal flower spikes are followed by inflated seed pods. The pea-like flowers are attractive to butterflies and other insect pollinators.
-
- Comfrey, Symphytum officinale, is a tall, easy to care for perennial plant that is often grown for its beauty. Comfrey plants shoot up quickly, early in the season, and can easily reach heights of around five feet.
-
- There are poppies popping up everywhere! Oriental poppy blossoms, Papaver orientale, last only a week or two, but during that time, they provide one of the high points of the gardening season with its bold colors. The flowers appear to be fashioned of crepe paper and can be more than six-inches across on stems up to three-feet in height.(Photo by Chhiring Sherpa)
-
- Aruncus dioicus, commonly called goat’s beard, is a Missouri native plant which occurs in moist woodlands and along bluffs in the central and southeast part of the State. A tall, erect, bushy, clump-forming plant typically growing four to six feet high features pinnately compound, dark green foliage and showy, plume-like spikes of tiny, cream colored flowers which rise well above the foliage in early to mid summer.
-
- I have many roses in my flower garden. Many of them were transferred here from my home in East Hampton a few years ago. I also planted many new rose bushes and climbers this year from rose hybridizer, David Austin.
-
- Here is a beautiful rose in light pink with the late afternoon light shining upon it. Soon, we will have an abundance of gorgeous roes.
-
- These are the large leaves of Rodgersia – a genus of flowering plants in the Saxifragaceae family. Rodgersia are herbaceous perennials originating from east Asia. The common name is Roger’s Flower.
-
- And, among my favorite flowers is the peony. The peony is any plant in the genus Paeonia. Peonies are considered rich in tradition – they are the floral symbol of China, the state flower of Indiana, and the 12th wedding anniversary bloom.
-
- I have peonies in this garden, but I also have a garden filled with only herbaceous peonies in shades of pink and white. Peonies love cooler climates where they get pronounced winter chill. Some will do well in warmer areas. All are also worth a try in dappled shade.
-
- I grow so many alliums here at the farm and they continue to bloom so beautifully interspersed with other blooms. We continue to plant more and more flowering plants in this garden. I will be sure to share photos as new blossoms appear. What flowers are blooming in your garden?
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
