8 Pro-Approved Flowers to Grow for Gorgeous Arrangements

While your garden takes a winter nap, it’s time to dream of flower-filled days ahead. For inspiration, we’re turning to floral designer, potter, and Life with Flowers author Frances Palmer. She shares the MVPs of her cut-flower garden, along with her tips for arranging them, from spring through fall.

Daffodils

A display of various daffodil flowers in small vases arranged on a surface with a colored background

Palmer adores the shot of sunshine daffodils bring at the tail end of winter. Plus, she says, when you grow daffodils yourself, you can wait until they’re at just the right stage of opening before you clip them for a vase. She recommends getting a jump on ordering bulbs for fall planting—some catalogs take preorders as early as spring—and adding new varieties to your yard each year. “My strategy is usually to get a little bit of everything so I have options,” Palmer says.

Here, Palmer has mixed yellow, white, and peach daffodils of all forms and sizes, using flower frogs sans water to display them standing tall. To achieve the same effect in a long-living arrangement, place flowers in narrow-mouth vases with water.

Peonies

A terracotta vase holding a floral arrangement of peonies irises and other flowers on a wooden surface

“Peonies require a time investment up front since the plants don’t bloom the first year, but once they get going, they’re so beautiful,” says Palmer, who grows both herbaceous perennial and tree types. She’s found that using a peony hoop to support the plants helps them develop stronger stems for arranging.

When they’re ready to clip, the flowers pair well with other late-spring bloomers like irises and roses, shown here. But Palmer also appreciates a simpler approach: “One peony in a vase—that, to me, is perfection.”

Poppies

An arrangement of various flowers in a decorative white vase on a pedestal

”It is always a thrill to plant poppy seeds in the middle of winter because they’re a promise of things to come in June,” Palmer writes in Life with Flowers. She particularly likes the breadseed, pompon, silk, and champagne varieties, which she sows at the edge of her garden beds in February; even with snow on the ground, they’re reliable growers.

Palmer spotlights the cut flowers’ delicate petals in bud vases or uses them in what she calls a “tapestry” arrangement like this one, where two scarlet oriental poppies stand out amid peonies, foxgloves, and more.

Lilies

A ceramic vase with an arrangement of daylilies on a wooden surface

Throughout summer, statuesque, fragrant lilies bring the drama with remarkably little fuss. “Once planted, the bulbs come back every year,” Palmer says. (Just be sure to protect them from deer.)

They’re high performers in a vase too: Their stems are sturdy, and flowers last for weeks if you cut them when the buds are closed and allow them to open up in a vase. Here, Palmer clipped the aptly named ‘Regale’ flowers at staggered heights so each gets its due attention in a tulipiere.

Roses

A row of terracotta vases holding a variety of roses and flowers

Palmer loves a fragrant, fluffy antique rose, but for a steady stream of flowers for arrangements, she also plants modern cultivars. “Once an old rose has finished blooming, it’s done for the year,” Palmer says. “The newer ones rebloom.”

Planting varieties with multiple bloom times means you can explore different ways to arrange roses too. Palmer combines early-blooming roses with bearded irises, peonies, and tulips; she pairs later bloomers with zinnias, mums, and asters.

Dahlias

A colorful floral arrangement of dahlias in decorative vases

Of all the cut flowers Palmer grows, dahlias outnumber other blooms by the hundreds. “Dahlias are truly among the most approachable flowers for growing,” she says. While the tubers need little more than a sunny spot and well-drained soil, plants will produce the most flowers if you pinch off the first center buds that appear on stems.

In arrangements, Palmer lets the large, structural blooms anchor a free-flowing mix of flowers, like the one here. Or she combines dahlias in different shades of a single color for an ombré effect.

Marigolds

Floral arrangement in a decorative vase with marigolds and other blooms

Marigolds are often relegated to a supporting role in the garden, added to veggie beds to repel pests. But, according to Palmer, they positively shine as cut flowers: “They’re cheerful, have strong stems, and last a very long time in a vase.”

Recommends growing them from nursery starts for ease and trying multiple types, including long-stem African varieties and pom-poms. Then bring them all together for a vibrant, multidimensional display in late summer or early fall.

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