Grasses and Greenery to Elevate your Home Cutting Garden
Once you have a nice collection of flowers planned for your home cutting garden, you are ready to take it to the next level.
It’s time to start growing grasses and greenery.
Here are some of my favorite varieties from this genre of plants.
Amaranth - level of difficulty: moderate.
Amaranth is a grass that has beautiful upright or cascading seed heads.
Hopi Red Dye and Hot Biscuits are my favorites right now although I’ve grown so many different varieties over my 7 years of flower farming.
Plant in week 17 and 19.
Although these grow easily and vigorously I call them moderately challenging because they tend to prefer heat.
Amaranth would grow out of control in my original flower garden in the steamy mid-west heat.
Up in Alaska, they grow slower and are sensitive to cold temps. I’ve lost a few plantings by optimistically planting these out too early.
Pinch when plants are 4 - 6 inches high.
Hot Biscuits Amaranth in the Turnstone Farm Garden.
Atriplex - level of difficulty: easy.
Plant in week 13 and 15.
Pinch when plants are 4-6 inches high OR plant 3-5 seeds to a cell. This will stunt them a bit to make the stems more manageable.
These easily self-seed so be careful - you will have to “weed” these out of places you don’t want them.
Harvest when seed heads have matured completely. Pop in a vase or hang to dry.
Bells of Ireland - level of difficulty: challenging.
Plant indoors in week 15 and 17.
I call these challenging because germination can be spotty and slow, so I often like to pre-sprout in damp paper towels before planting.
Pinch once plants are 4-6 inches tall to promote more stems per plant.
Harvest when the “bells” are firm to the touch.
Bupleurum - level of difficulty: challenging.
Maybe it’s just me, but I find this one challenging to grow. It does prefer to be direct seeded but I like to get a head start indoors.
Plant starting in week 13. You could plan for 2 to 3 successions spaced 2-3 weeks apart if desired.
Be patient as it can take a little longer to germinate.
Harvest when the flower heads are fully open - the flower heads stay green. You can also hang to dry at this stage as well.
Cress - level of difficulty: easy.
Penny, Persian or Wrinkled are what I grow. Seeds save well after being dried.
Plant in week 15 and 18.
Harvest when seed heads are fully mature.
Dill - level of difficulty: easy.
“Bouquet” is the variety best for cutting.
Plant in week 15. You could try a few successions 2 - 3 weeks apart.
I only do one planting since aphid pressure becomes high in my garden later in the summer. I’ve gotten rid of this problem by not replanting dill and certain varieties of kale.
Harvest when seed heads are fully mature.
Add to an arrangement or hang to dry.
Bouquet Dill in a Turnstone Farm wedding arrangement. Photo courtesy of Erica Rose
Fennel - level of difficulty: easy
“Bronze” is lovely but you can try other varieties too. They all offer great ferny and delicate elements to your arrangements.
Start in week 14 and 17.
Harvest at various stages for fun elements. Or wait for seed heads to mature fully to add to bouquets or hang to dry. Smells heavenly.
Figwort - level of difficulty: easy
Plant in 13. This is actually a perennial to zone 4 but will flower the first year. I have yet to discover if it will come back in my garden but there’s no reason to think it won’t.
Harvest when flower heads are fully mature.
Grass - level of difficulty: easy
Highlander, Lowlander, Green Drops and Ruby Silk are 4 of my favorites. But try others! There are many.
Grasses are so fun to grow!
Plant in week 15 and 17.
Remember that one seed equals one grass, so you can cluster 5-7 seeds in one cell or pot when planting.
Ruby Silk Grass from the Turnstone Farm Garden
Scented Geranium - - level of difficulty: moderate
I took a few cuttings from a plant in my son’s school. I now have 7 big and bushy plants sitting in my window waiting to go outside for the summer.
Heres what I did:
1) Take a cutting (feel free to pop by my garden and ask for a cutting in the fall).
2) Place cutting in damp soil or a bit of water. You could add some propagating hormone, but mine sprouted roots without.
3) Once you see roots sprouting, pot them up.
4) Pinch back once plant is 6 inches tall to encourage branching.
5) Harden off and plant out in the garden.
6) Before the first fall frost, dig up, pop in a pot and bring inside. You now have a gorgeous house plant to place in a sunny window all winter.
7) In the spring, harden off and plant out again. You can take cuttings from this plant at any time to make more plants for your garden
Feeling unsure about starting seeds indoors go here to read my blog all it: https://www.turnstonefarmalaska.com/garden-blog/2018/10/27/seed-starting-part-3-starting-your-seeds-indoors
Grow with care and you are well on your way to a killer home cutting garden!