It’s lovely to have lots of flowers in the garden. At this time of year there are so many plants in full bloom that even the most reluctant gardener is tempted into cutting a few beautiful scented flowers for the house.
I think that beautiful blooms need plenty of nice fresh foliage to set them off. In fact I’d say that up to half the stems in every vase should be foliage. Some foliage plants are very easy to propagate and I’ve chosen these four specifically for cutting.
If you’d like plenty of contrasting foliage to cut when you’re choosing flowers for the house then I can recommend these:
- Setaria italica ‘Lowlander’ top left
- Euphorbia oblongata top right
- Oreganum vulagre ‘Aureum’ bottom right
- Mentha spicata bottom left
I’ve grown the Setaria and Euphorbia from seed and the Oregano and Mint from cuttings of plants in my herb garden. They are still quite young plants but they have made good roots in their 9cm pots. They are all ready for planting out now so I guess that’s what I’ll be doing this evening!
This post is for Garden Bloggers Foliage Day hosted by Christina at My Hesperides Garden. Happy Gardening everyone! Gillian 🙂
Does the Oregano over winter for you, it does here, and if I cut it back well after it flowers it often flowers a second time. I like your foliage choices and agree about foliage for bouquets; I never have enough foliage in my arrangements, I’ll gave to try cuttings to increase stocks.
Yes, I grow Oregano in raised beds and it forms huge domes that eventually collapse around July/August. I’ll cut it back hard and it will regrow forming nice neat plants again. It becomes woody/straggly over winter then I cut it back in early spring and off we go again.
I never thought of using mint in flower arrangements but why not? A good idea. I have grown Euphorbia oblongata this year but I am rather wary of it since my daughter cut some for a flower arrangement and couldn’ t see properly for 4 days after rubbing her eyes. She had washed her hands too.
Mint is good to cut either in flower or not. Thanks for the warning about Euphorbia. I grow lots of perennial and annual Euphorbias and all of them have a milky sap that can harm you, especially if you expose your sap covered arms to sunlight. I always wear something with long sleeves and disposable gloves (wholesale boxes) when picking flowers and stripping leaves just to be on the safe side. How awful for your daughter Liz. She must have been worried about her eyesight.