The Blooming Joy Journal
Bloom by Bloom: A Late April Tour of My Cut Flower & Vegetable Garden
Late April in the Garden
After a long fall and winter of sowing seeds and tending to pants, the cut flower and vegetable garden is really coming to life with color. Some of the cut flower plants are beginning to come into bloom and baskets of vegetables are being harvested to feed my family. Today, I wanted to take you along a photo tour of what my cut flower garden looks like in late April.
If you are new to my blog, HI! I'm Kara and I am the grower behind all of these photos. I grow cut flowers using flower farming principles but grow them in more of a cottage garden fashion. When you flower farm, the goal is to not see much color in your field. I am inspired by the beauty in full bloom so I merry the two- flower farming and gardening- some flowers I cut and other flowers I let bloom to bring joy to the garden! Enough with the chatter- let's get going on our tour!
Disclosure: Hello! Please note that this post contains affiliate links. If you click through those links and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission- at no cost to you. This helps me keep this blog up and running to bring helpful cut flower growing content for you and I thank you so much!
Favorite Garden View at the Moment
In this view, you can see several garden beds in a row and a long one against the fence. You won't find expensive garden beds here! I really like to utilize materials I find around my farm such as wooden fence post tops that were cut off from building our livestock pens, extra brick from when we built our home and limestone rock that is plentiful around my farm. Come mid-summer, you won't even be able to see these materials because the flowers will be plentiful.
Garlic
The garlic is really starting to look beautiful! Surprisingly enough, this is my first year to ever grow garlic. We started growing vegetable gardens in 2009 so I'm not sure why we haven't but I'm hooked!
My friend, Sue, gave me several garlic cloves from her garden. She has been growing them for years and keeps a few to replant each year. In November 2024, I took about 3-4 cloves she gave me, broke them apart and planted the individual cloves. Proof in in the picture- they are growing well! I don't know what variety this is but I am looking forward to my first garlic harvest whenever they are ready!
Stock
I just love the color of Stock foliage. The first couple are just coming into bloom. The majority of this stock is from seeds I saved of my stock last year. Watch a YouTube video here I put together on stock seed saving.
I do have other types of stock in here too. In fact, my first ever purple stock is blooming and it if from this mix. I couldn't be more excited then to see PURPLE stock! If you followed my greenhouse grown stock that bloomed in March, you would know that these outside grown stock are soooo much shorter vs. my greenhouse grown.
Several factors go into play with this- different weather, different soil, different daylight. There is about 100 stock plants in this small space and most of them still have a bit to go before blooming. I also have a lone broccoli plant with them too. I like character- what can I say?!
Nigella
The fall sown Nigella has buds and is very close to being in bloom! I have nigella, also known as Love-In-A-Mist, in all stages of growth currently. It self sows prolifically and I'm finding some that are a few weeks old scattered throughout the garden. They will bloom later to give me multiple successions.
Many of the flowers featured in this blog post are also included in my Seed Starting Schedule eBook that you are welcome to print! If you're looking for guidance on when and how to start these blooms from seed—whether indoors or directly in the garden—my eBook provides a detailed, easy-to-follow timeline to help you grow a thriving cut flower garden from the very beginning. The eBook also has a chapter on plants to thin, net, cover with frost cloth, pinch as well as well as a bloom sequence timeline. Check out my eBook below!
Read More About the eBook
Poppies, Yarrow and Strawflower
Do you see the silvery-blue foliage plant? That is a new to me Poppy that I'm growing for the first time this year called 'Lauren's Grape'. It is the top flower I am most excited to see bloom this year! Surprisingly, the flowers won't last long and it's the pod that I'm really after to harvest. I'll let a few go to seed too and I'll have more poppy seeds than I know what to do with next year!
Interplanted with her is Yarrow and Strawflower. Give this bed a month and it will be insanely gorgeous!
I cannot go a summer without growing the classic dried flower- Strawflowers! The plants are starting to bulk up. I'll be harvesting from these early June. All of these plants are from seeds I saved last year. Here is a similar mix of Strawflowers.
Collection of Flowers & Vegetables Along the Fenceline
This bed in jam packed with vegetables and cut flowers. I don't follow any spacing rules in this bed so we shall see how it turns out. LOL! In the back I have broccoli, strawflower and cosmos planted because they will get the tallest. In front, I planted celery, which I am hoping the broccoli will help give them shade. There is also Snapdragons and Sunflowers intertwined.
At the very front is craspedia, boarder marigolds, onions and swiss chard. My husband bought me the marigolds as a gift but here are some similar Marigolds. I started the Onions by seed that I saved 2 years ago. Dare I confess I scattered Zinnia and Celosia seeds in here too?? I cannot wait to see this bed in a month!
The Sweet William is always one of the first fall sown cut flowers to come into bloom. It will send up multiple stems until about June. I've already harvested about 75 Sweet William stems from 2 beds in the last week. They are just starting to get going!
In this photo is 'Sweet White' Dianthus but here is another Sweet William to grow that is great for shorter flower arrangements.
The Bachelor's Buttons have just begun to bloom. An old faithful that survives the winters well and pollinators love...but flower farmers don't love to harvest it. LOL I love the way she looks in the garden, she does last well in a vase and the flowers dry beautifully for petal confetti.
I'm always experimenting with interplanting crops to save space. I am trying Sunflowers with the Feverfew. I've heard that Feverfew should come back yearly for me (zone 7-TN) but none of my plants survived. I am so glad I started more transplants in January!
Anemones
We have had multiple days of 80 to almost 90 degrees. Anemones start to yellow when this happens. This means they are shutting down for the season. They much prefer cooler temps and why it's so important to plant them before Spring. I interplanted Statice within the Anemones in hopes the Statice would take over the bed while the Anemones died down. My hope is this means I won't have to 'flip' the bed. Until next year....
Statice
Statice, the diva, is starting to bulk up! I haven't weeded this bed since I planted it weeks ago. I'm showing real life here. LOL
Snapdragons and Radish
The Snapdragon bed is starting to bulk up and get some height to it! I pinched some of the Snapdragons so they would branch. I left a few not pinched so I would have earlier blooms. To help with erosion and weeds crawling into the bed, I planted a radish boarder. I've been eating some and will let others flower and go to seed for more raidsh next year!
I get a lot of questions about this netting. It helps keep the flower stems from flopping over in a good wind storm. It's called Hortonova netting and I have it linked in my Amazon Storefront.
About My Floral and Garden Themed Amazon Storefront:
My Amazon Storefront is a place where I can make collections of items I use for growing cut flowers that I hope you will find helpful. I've made product collections for:
The Ranunculus are in their PRIME! Just like Anemones, Ranunculus start to shut down when days are consistently above 80 degrees. This is why I start them in the fall and middle of winter. Usually the Ranunculus start to fizzle our just after Mother's Day. So far, not much yellowing so I'm hoping to get several more stems!
If you need a detailed step-by-step guide, I have written a Ranunculus growing E-book.
Yarrow
No cut flower garden is complete without Yarrow! A perennial favorite cut fower and this patch is starting to send up a few buds. It won't get blooming well till about June. I applied netting this week because whenever I don't, I always regret it. A good thunderstorm in May will cause the tall stems to flop over and all of my flowers will be crooked!
Larkspur
I have a 'wildflower' patch in my garden that I let self sow with Larkspur and Bachelor's Buttons every year. It's a bit unsightly right now because you can see the weeds but the Larkspur and Bachelor Buttons will quickly surpass them in height. The photo below is the same spot last year!
Sugar Snap Pea Trellis Mixed with Flowers
The Sugar Snap Pea trellis is a spot I am really looking forward to seeing in May because it will be a beautiful wall of flowers and pods! In front of the trellis, I have garden roses and a mix of Snapdragons, Feverfew, Calendua, Yarrow, Sunflowers, Ranunculus, Stock and Scabiosa. It's packed- I love the Cottage Garden look!
Rudbeckia (Black Eyed Susan) mixed with Poppies
The final flower on our tour today is the Rudbeckia! After growing slowly outside all winter, the plants are starting to bulk up next to their poppy friends! I am also finding self sown Zinnias popping up. I am always excited to see what color they bloom!
This may be odd to put this photo in the blog pot but it symbolized an end of a season for me. I have been collecting all of the hoops I use to hold up frost cloth during the winter because they aren't needed anymore! Now the hoops are being replaced with posts and netting to keep the taller flowers standing straight...which means we have officially arrived in the consistent warm days of Spring!
Thank you for coming along this garden tour with me today! What did you find most helpful about this blog post? Are you planting seeds in your garden right now? I'd love to hear from you below!
If you would like to stay up to date with the latest blog post, subscribe to The Blooming Joy E-mail Community!
Helpful Links for You!
Cut Flowers & Vegetable Seeds Links Mentioned in this Blog Post:
Use code BLOOMINGJOY for 5% off Botanical Interests orders!
Sweet William
Related Blog Posts:
How I Heat My Greenhouse During the Winter
Related YouTube Videos:
Greenhouse Grown Stock (YouTube Short)