July Flowers in My Cutting Garden
My flower cutting garden continues to produce beautiful blooms.
This cutting garden has developed so well over the last few seasons. I enjoy comparing its progress from year to year and seeing where I need to add more plants to improve the display. It takes a lot of time to maintain a flower cutting garden this large. We are constantly weeding and watering, particularly during these warm summer months. This time of year, I have many Shasta daisies, balloon flowers, Black-Eyed Susans, yarrow, sweet peas, and more.
Enjoy these photos.
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- All these flowers are thriving in my cutting garden – there is always something new to see every time I walk through the beds. These are Shasta daisies. I have an abundance of shasta daisies this season – they always look so cheerful, especially when planted in large groups.
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- Shasta daisy flowers provide perky summer blooms with the look of the traditional daisies along with evergreen foliage. They are low maintenance and great for filling in bare spots in the landscape.
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- These are the showy flowers of rudbeckia. Rudbeckia’s bright, summer-blooming flowers give the best effect when planted in masses in a border or wildflower meadow.
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- In general, rudbeckias are relatively drought-tolerant and disease-resistant. Flower colors include yellow and gold, and the plants grow two to six feet tall, depending on the variety.
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- Here is one of many kinds of lilies that bloom in my flower garden. I also have lilies along my winding pergola, outside my Winter House kitchen and in the sunken garden behind my Summer House. My collection of lilies is a combination of Oriental, Asiatic, trumpet, and Orienpet lilies.
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- Lilies come in a variety of colors with multiple blooms per stem.
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- I also have many different irises in this garden. Iris flowers can begin blooming in late winter to early spring. Iris care is minimal once the growing iris is established. Iris flowers bloom in shades of purple, blue, white, and yellow and include many hybridized versions that are multi-colored.
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- Lady’s mantle, Alchemilla vulgaris, grows along both sides of the main footpath of my cutting garden. In late spring and early summer, the plant produces lovely chartreuse colored blooms.
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- Close to the footpath is this attractive Nasturtium. Nasturtium plants, Tropaeolum, are loved for their rich, saturated, jewel-toned colors. Planted in the spring they are fast and easy to grow. Nasturtium is a genus of about 80 species of annual and perennial herbaceous flowering plants. It was named by Carl Linnaeus in his book Species Plantarum. These flowers can vary in shade, but the most popular versions are orange, yellow, pink, red, or mahogany.
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- Nasturtium leaves are small to medium in size and round and broad in shape. The flat, bright green leaves are waxy, pliable, have a few veins running throughout, and are connected to a central stem.
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- 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.
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- Achillea millefolium, commonly known as yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a hardy perennial with fernlike leaves and colorful blooms. The large, flat-topped flower clusters are perfect for cutting and drying.
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- The flower clusters or corymbs are made up of dozens of tiny daisy-like florets. Here’s yarrow in light pink. Yarrow flower colors range from white and soft pastels to brilliant shades of yellow, red, orange, and gold.
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- Butterfly weed is a bright orange showy native wildflower that’s easy to grow, cold hardy, and does well in poor, dry soils. Long-lasting clusters of small, flat-topped flowers are crowned with a yellow, sun-kissed “corona” and blooms from June through August. Butterfly weed is an important nectar source for Monarch butterflies and its leaves provide essential food for developing Monarch caterpillars.
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- Many of the poppies are still going strong. Poppies require very little care, whether they are sown from seed or planted when young – they just need full sun and well-drained soil.
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- Poppies are an attractive, easy to grow flower in both annual and perennial varieties, and they come in nearly every color of the rainbow.
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- Here is a poppy seed pod, which is what’s left on the stem once the flower blooms and the petals fall off. As the seed heads turn brown with ripeness, it’s time to cut them and harvest the seeds. One can tell when pods are ripe by shaking the stem. If the pod rattles, it’s ready.
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- There are still a few foxgloves here too. Here is a tall foxglove plant, Digitalis purpurea. These add lovely vertical interest to any garden. Foxglove flowers grow on stems which may reach up to six feet in height, depending on the variety.
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- The phlox is thriving in the garden. Phlox has superb heat and mildew resistance. Phlox is a tall and upright grower that’s great for the back of the border, or even planted at the edge of the garden among the shrubs. Phlox also comes in a range of colors from pure white to lavender to even red, and grows happily in most parts of the country. If properly planted and sited, phlox is largely pest and disease free too – a perfect perennial.
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- This is a balloon flower, Platycodon grandiflorus – a species of herbaceous flowering perennial plant of the family Campanulaceae, and the only member of the genus Platycodon. It is native to East Asia and is also known as the Chinese bellflower or platycodon. The opened flowers resemble those of bellflowers, and while most are deep blue or purple, white and pink varieties are also available.
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- Balloon flowers get their name from the unopened buds, which swell up prior to opening and resemble little hot-air balloons.
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- And growing on one side of the fence surrounding the garden are these dainty perennial sweet pea or everlasting pea flowers. The sweet pea is a herbaceous climbing vine with beautiful bright flowers that grow up to 10 feet long. I hope your garden is also doing wonderfully this season. Share what blooms you are growing in the comments section below. Have a great week.
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