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Variety of cutting flowers abound for gardeners

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GARDEN JOURNAL

In acting you have players and you have "props." Props is a shortened form of the old word "properties" dating back to 15th century theatrical plays. Today instead of plays we have television, and if television seems trivial, it helps to find television trivia. Superstition or simple pranks often require certain items to be displayed in each television show. Roseanne Barr's husband Tom Arnold hated her favorite Egg and Chicken T-shirt, so after their divorce, she made sure the shirt appeared in every episode of "Roseanne," whether it was worn by a cast member or framed and hung on a wall. Every episode of "Seinfeld"

has a Superman somewhere. And in every episode of the TV show "Just Shoot Me," there is a new bouquet of flowers on Jack Gallo's office window.

Bouquets of flowers seem to strike us as somehow frivolous or fancy rather than everyday. Many gardeners love cut flowers so much that they plant a separate cutting garden to provide cut flowers without destroying careful landscapes. Best of all, many cutting flowers are hardy, easy to grow and can be started from seeds inexpensively.

Choose a planting site with well-drained soil in full sun with easy access to water.

For best results work organic matter, such as compost or aged manure, into the soil.

Because you won't be concerned with how the plants look in the garden, you can plant your cutting flowers in straight rows for easier harvesting. Cutting blossoms encourages them to grow even more blooms.

Choose flowers such as zinnias. The zinnia is an easy-to-grow, and very hardy annual, that comes in a vivid array of

colors including red, orange, pink, white and yellow. There are even striped zinnias such as Candy Cane and big spiky cactus-flowered zinnias. You can dry zinnia flowers by placing them between books.

Sunflowers are another good cut flower. It only takes a few to fill a vase. Sunflowers come in traditional big yellow, but also red such as Moulin Rouge, and white vanilla ice sunflower.

Cosmos are another tall, easy-to-grow cut flower. There are the old-fashioned cosmos such as Sensation Mix with single flowers in pink, mauve and white. Picotee Cosmos have two to two-and-three-quarter-inch blooms of pure white edged with carmine pink shading to solid red. Picotee Cosmos have strong stems that are good for cutting.

Newer varieties such as Double Click Cranberry Cosmos has semi-double to fully double flowers on strong stems. They are a little later in die season than many other blooms.

At three feet tall, Larkspur is an impressive flower with stately spikes that make for big, showy bouquets. Larkspurs bloom in a wide range of colors including light pink, dark pink, white, blue, rose and lavender.

To fill in the spaces of a bouquet, you will need something light and open with plain leaves such as ferns or baby's breath, with its masses of tiny, pure white single flowers.

Baby's breath is multi-branched, with stems up to several feet long. The airy foliage

gives it a delicate, almost dainty look that is most attractive when mixed with other cut flowers. Baby's breath can bloom for up to eight weeks.

A simple cutting garden planted from seed can give you hundreds of blooms for cutting for your own home or as gifts. Or as props on a TV show.

Paul Barbano writes about gardening from his home in Rehoboth Beach. Contact him by writing to P.O. Box 213, Lewes, DE19958.





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