If you read my previous blog “Beginners Guide to Growing Cutflowers” then you’ve most likely been waiting for this follow-up post, “Top 10 Annual Cutflowers I can’t Live Without”? Apologies for the delay, but here it is!

As I mentioned in my previous post growing from seed and growing annuals are where you really get the bang for your buck, so I have mainly focussed on these. I will later discuss in another post other plants worth growing for cutting too and hopefully you wont have to wait as long for that post!

So let’s get to it, in no particular order here is my Top 10!

1.  Ammi visnaga – This flower give gorgeous delicate clouds of white flowers making a perfect filler to most arrangements – often overlooked in arrangements by showstoppers, but these create the important backdrop for your show stoppers that really help them pop!

2. Cosmos – You can’t think of cutflowers without thinking of Cosmos. A prolific flowerer which gives beautiful daisy like flowers in a variety of colours. My fave have to be Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Purity’ a stunning white flower and Cosmos sulphureus ‘Bright Lights’ which is a lovely yellow orange flower-great for autumnal arrangements.

3. Sweet Pea –  A firm cutting favourite with a fantastic scent. The varieties are endless with Sweet Peas so good luck choosing your favourites. There is nothing more elegant yet simple than a couple of miniature milk bottles with single stems of Sweet Peas arranged but they can also stand their own in large arrangements too.

4. Cornflower – I love Cornflowers or also known as Centaurea cyanus. They are a classic cutting flower and with good reason, these babies have fuzzy heads on a single stem fantastic for height or colour pops of contrasting colours and adding texture to your arrangements.

5. Nigella – This I think could be my favourite cut flower of all. When you get up close to a nigella flower its detail is so fascinating, it has such a gorgeous structure and is probably the easiest flower to grow. The other great thing about this plant is it gives you two choices to work with. The flowers are gorgeous in arrangements, but so are the seed heads and I often use these in arrangements too. My fave varieties are ‘African Bride’ and ‘Persian Jewels’.

6. Scabious – I love scabious and so do the bees. These tall glamorous beauties are a must for the cutting patch and a great addition to any arrangement. The pin cushion like flower blooms for such a long period too you just have to keep cutting. Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Tall Double Mix’ are my fave.

7. Bunnys Tail – You can’t have a cutting patch without a grass of some sort and this is one of my favourites. Lagurus ovatus ‘Bunnys Tail Grass’ apart from being super cute resembling a Bunny rabbits tail it adds interesting texture to your arrangement and can be dried and used over and over again. Bonus

8. Zinnia – A real show stopper, these glitzy, vibrant flowers really add the wow factor to your arrangement. I love the pale varieties but Zinnia Jazz just scream look at me with the hot exotic colours. A must grow!

9. Aquilegia –  Technically a Biennial as it flowers the following year, I must have this in my cutting patch and it generally pops up all over the garden as it likes to self seed, which I have no problem with. Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Lime Sorbet’ (Granny’s Bonnet) is a pale green-white upper story flower, it is a pure delicate beauty. You can get many more colours but this one is top of my list.

10. Bupleurum rotundifolium Leprechaun Gold Seeds – This beautiful Chartreusee green doubles up as both a foliage and a flower and is a cut flower must have, again acting as a wonderful filler which can be interwoven between flowers in your arrangements.

So there you have it “My Top 10 Annual Cutflowers I Can’t Live Without”.

Now for the exciting part……… I am giving away this collection of seeds.

*For a chance to win “My Top 10 Annual Cutflowers” worth over £20 simply like this post and comment below then subscribe to my blog. It couldn’t be easier a winner will be drawn at random on Sunday 11th Decemeber 2016.

Good Luck and don’t forget to spread the word, if you share on social media and tag me @bohoraspberry I will add you into the prize draw TWICE so you have a greater chance at winning!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Bo x

*All entries must be UK residents.