While I love growing lush, romantic blooms, there’s also something very satisfying about cultivating weedier, wilder bouquet ingredients. These unique textural elements add interest and depth to any arrangement with their rustic appeal, and they produce an abundance of cutting material from midsummer through autumn.
In addition, many of these materials can be dried and used in fall wreaths and arrangements, making them doubly valuable in the cutting garden.
One of the fastest and easiest ways to add unexpected magic to an arrangement is to tuck a few stems of ornamental grasses into the mix. In addition to bringing unique visual interest to bouquets, these grasses are drought tolerant and easy to grow, and they bloom for months from just one planting.
‘Feathertop’ (pictured above) has been a mainstay in my cutting garden for many years. One planting will flower for nearly 3 months, and the more you cut, the more it produces.
The creamy white, fluffy seed heads look like they are dancing in the vase and are beautiful when combined with chrysanthemums and dahlias. Seed heads will last for 7 to 10 days as fresh cuts; no floral preservative is needed.
Seed heads can be harvested at almost any stage, from barely emerging to fully elongated. As stems ripen, they become longer and more deeply colored. Stems last for 7 to 10 days in the vase; no preservative is needed.
The tall, stiff green stems are topped with glittering silvery seed heads resembling the fiber-optic wands that were so popular during my childhood.
Seed heads can be harvested at almost any stage, from barely emerging to fully blown open. The more mature the stem, the larger the explosion grows. Stems last 7 to 10 days in the vase.
Everyone who visits the farm loves this grass! It mixes well with everything and looks fantastic dried. Fluffy wands catch slightly in the breeze; plant en masse for a real show.
Harvest at any point once seed heads emerge. Expect a vase life of 7 to 10 days; no preservative needed. To dry, wait until the pollen sheds, pick, and hang upside down in a warm, dark place.
Amaranth
I have grown just about every variety of amaranth on the market, but I’ve found only a handful to be worthy of planting en masse every year. Some varieties of this plant are upright and full; others produce dramatic hanging tassels that are showstoppers in vase arrangements and wedding work.
Amaranth is easy to grow and a great choice for beginning gardeners. Seed can be started indoors to produce transplants or direct-sown in the garden. Harvest when the tassels begin to elongate, and remove most of the foliage so the colorful ropes are more visible.
‘Green Tails’ (pictured above, right) is an extra-special amaranth that provides a striking backdrop to a garden bed or a dramatic addition to large-scale arrangements. Its long, chartreuse-green tassels add texture and combine beautifully with both bright and pastel color palettes.
I discovered ‘Coral Fountain’ (pictured above, left) during a variety trial some years back and fell madly in love with it. The pendulous blooms are the most exquisite shade of dusty pink that resembles sunbleached velvet. It is perfect for dramatic, large-scale arrangements.
Quinoa is one of our new favorite bouquet fillers. ‘Red Head’ (pictured above) produces towering plants with a large stalk and multiple side branches covered in thickly seeded heads. As seed heads mature, they transition from lime green to smoky peach and eventually darken to magenta-cranberry.
Plants can be harvested over a long period of time after seed heads have formed. Expect a vase life of 7 to 10 days.
Orach is a fantastic plant I discovered in a friend’s veggie patch some years back, and I have been a huge fan ever since. The young leaves are edible and are often compared to spinach.
Early in the season, harvest the leafy stems en masse for bouquets. If plants are left to grow, you’ll be rewarded with gorgeous seedy stems that are wonderful in large midsummer arrangements.
Fresh stems used for their foliage last longest when you dip them for 7 to 10 seconds in boiling water directly after harvest; seeded stems do not need any special postharvest treatment. Both can last up to 2 weeks in the vase.
Cress
This fast-flowering filler is a must-have for mixed bouquets and intricate handiwork, such as boutonnieres and flower crowns. The tall, sturdy stems are smothered in beautiful silvery seedpods—like tiny textural beads—that aren’t prone to wilting or shattering.
Producing a bumper crop just 2 months from sowing, this garden workhorse is a winner. Cress is extremely quick to germinate, so I direct seed it in the garden every 2 to 3 weeks from my last spring frost through early summer for a steady supply.
In addition to using cress in fresh bouquets, you can easily dry stems to use as a fantastic addition to autumn bouquets and wreaths. To dry, hang bunches upside down in a warm, dry place out of direct sunlight.
A friend gifted me seeds from her ‘Pennycress’ (pictured above). Legend has it that ‘Pennycress’ has been growing in the Skagit Valley since the year I was born. The bright, clean, apple-green stems are well branched and loaded with round, textural seedpods. As seed heads mature, they turn the color of wheat.
This is a staple crop for me, and I sow it multiple times over the season for a steady supply. Pods come on all at once, so it’s perfect for succession-planting. ‘Pennycress’ dries very well, changing from green to glowing yellow and eventually to tan. It’s very easy to save seed, too.
Harvest when seed wands have fully formed to the tip and the top blooms have faded. Expect a vase life of 7 to 10 days.
Jewels of Opar (pictured above) produces dense mounds of chartreuse foliage that give way to long, airy wands covered in tiny pink, star-shaped flowers that mature into miniature glowing red-orange beads. It’s an incredible plant in the late-summer and early-autumn garden and a must-grow for autumn bouquets and wearable flowers.
Harvest after flowers have dropped and seedpods appear. Expect a vase life of at least a week.
Mignonette, especially ‘Garden Mignonette’ (pictured above), is one of my favorite textural bouquet fillers. After the vanilla-scented flowers fade, they leave long, wispy wands of seedy stems that light up bouquets with their texture and persist in the garden until the first frost.
The little lantern-like pods also shift in color over time; as summer fades and fall arrives, they take on a cranberry dusting. Fresh pods will last 7 days. Mignonette is also a favorite of pollinators and is suitable for the border as well as containers.
Silene
Silene ‘Blushing Lanterns’ (pictured above) produces tall, wispy gray-green stems covered in miniature pale green balloon-like pods veined with blush. As pods mature, they open to reveal snow-white petals.
Once petals drop, pods remain. They make a romantic and feminine addition to arrangements and are a must-grow for wedding work.
This extremely productive variety blooms abundantly from early summer through autumn. Silene can be harvested at any stage, and cut stems last 7 days in the vase.
A hardworking perennial, figwort (pictured above) will flower the first year from seed if started early. Waist-high, branching plants produce an abundance of long stems smothered in chocolate-and-green hoodlike blooms, similar to those of snapdragons.
Leathery, long-lasting flowers have a bitter, smoky scent, but they attract more pollinators than any other plant we’ve grown. In addition to being a great bouquet filler, figwort is a must-grow for the bees. Pick when stem tips are no longer floppy, and flowers will last up to 2 weeks in the vase.
Poppy pods are still a favorite in mixed bouquets. They are easy to grow and make a wonderful addition to any garden.
‘Rattle Poppy’ (pictured above) produces huge, decorative seedpods that are as large as limes. The pods can be dried and used indefinitely. This variety and other breadseed poppies do best when direct-sown, but slugs love them, so keep an eye out.
Shirley poppies yield a bumper crop of miniature silver pods with darker tops that are excellent for handwork, bridal bouquets, and dried crafts. All varieties produce equally well.
‘Supreme’ flowers all summer. This mesmerizing mix of white, scarlet, soft pink, and watermelon-orange looks like an old-fashioned silk kimono. Single and double flowers sway above clean, mint-green, serrated foliage. Each fuzzy stem shoots up at least a half dozen buds, and as soon as one flower fades, another comes up.
One of the most ephemeral and delicate flowers we grow, Shirley poppies steal the heart of everyone who visits our garden. Pollinators love them too.
Love-in-a-mist (pictured above) is grown as much for its enchanting pods as for its star-shaped flowers, and it couldn’t be easier to grow. Sow seeds directly in the garden in the fall or early spring for a great show.
While this plant looks quite fragile, it’s one of the hardiest early bloomers. When the flowers are left on the plant, they form dramatic seedpods that add a unique textural element to any bouquet.
Use the pods fresh or dried in bouquets; dried ones last almost indefinitely. To dry, simply hang upside down in a warm, dry place out of bright light for 2 weeks.
‘African Bride’ forms dramatic black seedpods, while ‘Cramer’s Plum’ produces plum-colored pods. Starry Night is a mix of my favorites including ‘Delft Blue’, ‘Midnight’, and ‘African Bride’. It produces lavender-dusted, royal blue, and white blooms, all with spidery black centers.
No garden is complete without a broad swath of pincushion flower (pictured above), also referred to by its genus name, Scabiosa. These hardy annuals are easy to grow and are wonderful for wedding work. They bloom all summer long, and pollinators love them.
The colors of all the varieties listed here are stunning, and they all produce pods equally well.
‘Black Knight’ is an extremely dark, nearly black maroon, while ‘Summer Sangria’ is a rich, aptly named variety that mixes well with both vibrant tones and antiqued muted hues. ‘Salmon Queen’ is a beautiful salmon-pink that is a floral designer’s dream and a favorite of everyone who visits the farm.
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Lindsay on
My cress is laying flat against the soil and the stems are not strong or growing upright. You don’t list any tips here for supports or netting required… curious how I can combat this? I don’t see how I could use them in arrangements when the stems are all wonky