Cut flower growing has exploded in popularity the last few years. If you’ve purchased plants in the hopes of designing your own beautiful bouquets and been disappointed with the results, you’re not alone. Most nurseries stock “bedding plants” designed to be grown in pots, hanging baskets, or in the front of a border planting. These varieties tend to be too short for floral arranging. The solution? Growing from seed! I’ll show you ten foolproof cut flowers you can easily grow from seed, even if you’re a beginner. Worried about space? Never fear! You’ll be amazed by how many blooms you can get from even a handful of plants. So, whether you’re growing in a single raised bed, adding color to your landscape, or dreaming of a cut flower farm like I had, these ten easy-to-grow varieties will give you blooms all summer long.

In this guide, you’ll discover:

• 10 beginner-friendly cut flowers perfect for seed starting
• Specific varieties that deliver long vase life
• Growing tips from my flower farming experience
• How to maximize your harvest in small spaces

Zinnias

Zinnias are a classic cut flower with a long vase life. The ultimate easy-to-grow flower, you can start them indoors in the spring, or direct seed them in the garden after your last spring frost. The prolific blooms come in a variety of shapes and colors, from small pom varieties, like the Oklahoma series, to huge, focal Benary’s Giants with their 4-5 inch blooms. If you’re looking for something unusual, consider the Queeny varieties, with their lime green variegated petals in pinks, orange, white, and red. These sun-loving beauties will produce flowers on tall plants all the way up to your first fall frost. Harvest fully open blooms that pass the “wiggle test” with stems that stay straight when you wiggle them.
75-90 Days to Maturity, 30-40 inches tall

Cosmos

An old fashioned favorite, cosmos will charm you with their sweet, daisy-like blooms with their bright yellow centers. Found in shades of lilac-y pink and white, they make excellent, airy filler flowers in a market bouquet, and you can even harvest the lacy greens for foliage. In fact, some flower farmers grow cosmos just for the foliage! For that classic, single cosmos, look for the Versailles or Sensation varieties. If you’re looking for more texture, consider the Double Click series, with their fuzzy, serrated double blooms. The Cupcakes series, named for their resemblance to fluted cupcake wrappers, is an unusual and interesting choice. Harvest just as the buds begin to open for the longest vase-life.
75-90 Days to Maturity, 40-48 inches tall

Sunflowers

I mean, who doesn’t love sunflowers? Whether you fill a vase with them, or tuck one big showstopper into a bouquet, sunflowers instantly bring a smile. There are hundreds of varieties to choose from now, ranging from classic golden yellow, to creamy apricot, bright whites, and even reds and purples. Cut at the “cracking bud stage”, sunflowers will give you a week or more of sunshine. Quick to grow, you can direct seed them after your last frost. Look for pollenless Procuts, with their huge range of colors, quirky Sunfills in purple & green, or fully double teddy bear varieties. Most sunflowers grow a single bloom per seed, so plant a few each week for a continuous harvest. Fun fact: the size of a sunflower is in direct proportion to the amount of space you give them. Plant two seeds per hole, spaced 3-4 inches apart for perfect, bouquet-sized blooms. I don’t typically recommended branching sunflowers for cut flowers because stem length is inconsistent, but if space is a consideration, or you don’t want to do succession planting, give them a try. They will produce blooms for several weeks.
45-60 Days to Maturity, 48-72 inches tall

Marigolds

You’re likely familiar with the bedding varieties sold at nurseries and garden centers, but marigolds make excellent cut flowers too. Culturally significant in Latin American and South Asian cultures, the blooms can be used to make garlands used in celebrations. Available in bright oranges, yellows, and whites, look for long-stemmed options, such as Coco Gold and White Swan. In addition to brightening bouquets, the petals are also edible, and make a colorful addition to baby greens or as a garnish. The foliage has a strong, pungent smell that repel a variety of pests, such as aphids and mosquitos. Plant them near tomatoes, potatoes, or cabbage-family vegetables to keep pests at bay. You’ll remove the foliage for bouquet making, so enjoy the pest control benefits the strong-scented foliage provides knowing that you won’t smell them once they are in your bouquets.
70-90 Days to Maturity, 30-40 inches tall

Feverfew (Matricaria)

You may not be familiar with feverfew, but it’s likely you’ve seen it in bouquets. Once you grow it once, you’ll want to grow it every year for the sweet little flower clusters that make the perfect bouquet filler! Grow the classic Magic Single, with its tiny, daisy-like buds, or choose a ball variety like Snow Ball or Sunny Ball. If you can only choose one variety, try Tetra White, which offers the best of both worlds – a poofy, double bloom with a tiny yellow center that looks great with anything you want to pair it with. These surprisingly hardy plants can be sown indoors in early spring, and may be perennial in some warmer climates. Once harvested, cut low to the ground and you may be rewarded with a second flush late in the season.
100-110 days to maturity, 28-36 inches tall

Ammi (False Queen Anne’s Lace)

These large, airy disc-like blooms are a welcome addition to your cut flower bouquets, providing necessary texture that will elevate your arrangements. Available in true white to moody pink tones, plant a mix and put them in everything. This fast-growing flower attracts beneficial insects to your garden, and the 5-6 inch blooms give serious cottage-garden vibes. Consider filling a vase with them for a stunning, minimalist bouquet that is both sophisticated and sweet. Chill the seed in the refrigerator for a week or two prior to direct seeding after your last frost. Ammi prefers to get established in cooler temperatures, and consider succession planting to ensure blooms all summer long. Harvest ammi when the flower heads have developed a dome shape.
65-75 Days to Maturity, 36-50 inches tall

Celosia

Among the most versatile cut flowers in your garden, celosia comes in so many shapes and sizes, you’re going to want to grow them all. Available in a rainbow of colors from pale pastels, to vibrant pinks and golds, and even boho browns. Celosias come in three basic forms: petite spike varieties, showy plumes, and unusual cockscombs. Typically grown as an accent flower, but that doesn’t mean they won’t steal the show. Look for spike varieties, such as the versatile, pale pink Flamingo Feathers, or plumes like the Sunday or Celway series, or my favorite – the lime-green Sylphid. If you’re wanting to try growing a cockscomb type, consider a Chief mix for a variety of colors in one seed packet. Tip: cockscombs take time to develop, so give them plenty of time to grow before harvesting.
85-100 (spike and plume types), 100-120 (cockscomb) Days to Maturity, 30-40 inches tall

Snapdragons

Almost foolproof, snapdragons practically grow themselves (and readily re-seed in my garden). I start these tiny seeds indoors in early spring, since they can be slow to get started, and then emerge as teeny seedlings before taking off. Snapdragons prefer a cool start, so if you live in a warmer climate, look for warm season varieties, sometimes labeled “Group 3-4”, such as Potomac, Madame Butterfly, or Rocket series. Choose from a huge variety of options from pale pastels to brighter gelato colors, and many bicolor options. It’s hard to choose just one! Harvest when the bottom third of the florets have started to open. These tall spikes make a stunning bouquet on their own, and add height to your mixed bouquets. Snapdragons notoriously have a mind of their own, and will naturally grow straight up, even after they are cut, which can be funny and surprising when you’ve placed the stems at an angle in your vase, only to find them the next morning standing at attention.
110-120 Days to Maturity, 28-48 inches tall

Statice (Limonium)

Every bouquet needs filler flowers, and statice is here for it. Small clusters of white, pink, or purple flowers grow on branching, triangular stems, delivering a ton of blooms per plant. Shorter than other cut flower recommendations, statice are perfect for small and mid-size bouquets, where the blooms are often tucked in deep, lending depth to your bouquets. The quintessential dried flower, grow extras for fall and winter arrangements. Start indoors in slightly larger containers to give them plenty of room to grow, providing light to aid germination.
110-120 Days to Maturity, 24-30 inches tall

Bachelor Buttons (Cornflowers)

One of nature’s true blue flowers, bachelor buttons are also available in shades of white, pink, and red. An excellent choice for a meadow planting, bachelor buttons readily re-seed for blooms year after year. The edible, 1.5 inch blooms make a great filler flower, and the plants keep blooming into early fall. The tall, branching plants have thin stems and benefit from support to keep them upright. As an alternative, nigella/love-in-a-mist is another blue flower option with a similar bloom, which also re-seeds, and which had interesting seed pods that can be used in dried arrangements. But don’t eat nigella, as it is considered mildly toxic. If you have the space, grow both, and decide which of these heirloom varieties you prefer.
65-75 Days to Maturity, 30-40 inches tall

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So there you have it! Ten easy-to-grow cut flower varieties, each with lots of options. If you haven’t grown from seed in the past, I suggest you start with 3-5 varieties, and choose colors that all look good together. That way you know you’ll have gorgeous cut flower bouquets all summer. If space allows, planting multiples of each variety will give you a bountiful cut flower harvest. It may seem counterintuitive, but you’ll find it more useful for bouquet making to have 4 plants each of 5 different varieties than to have 1 plant each of 20 varieties. This is also easier on the budget! If you must have more variety and your growing space is limited, then look for seed mixes that give you more variety for the same price.

New to seed starting? Get my Seed Starter’s Companion for complete, step-by-step instructions how to plant and nurture a seed-grown garden.

As always, with sunshine and soil under our nails, happy growing!