Raising Flowers for Cut Flowers

Plant your flowers based on your location and season. If you live in USDA growing zones 7 to 11, plant daffodils, tulips and calla lilies in fall. If you live in a colder area, plant them in spring. Plant roses, lilies, irises, gladiolas and hydrangeas in spring in all areas.

Find the right sites for your chosen flowers. Most flowers -- tulips, daffodils, callas, lilies, irises -- require full sun all day. Some roses can tolerate afternoon shade, while hydrangeas prefer partial to filtered sun. Every flower comes with a tag that recommends a certain location for planting. The right light exposure directly affects a plant's ability to bloom for cut flowers.

Amend the soil in your planting sites to a depth of 8 to 10 inches for bulbs and 12 to 24 inches for larger plants like roses and hydrangeas. Mix organic compost and quick-draining soil together in equal parts and use this as your soil amendment. Turn the amendment into the soil to produce a mixture that is half natural soil and half amendment, so 12 inches of amendment if you're digging up 24 inches of soil, etc.

Plant your bulbs or plants according to their spacing requirements. For bulbs, plant at a depth that is twice their length, with pointed end up. For larger bushes, plant in holes that are as deep as their root balls and twice as wide. Pack amended soil in around the planting to secure the bulbs or plants, then water each planting site with 4 to 5 inches of water to settle the soil.

Water your flowers weekly with their required watering allowance. Most flowers do well with 1 to 2 inches of water every week to maintain soil moisture. Use 2 to 3 inches of mulch around the flowers to maintain soil moisture and warmth, and to discourage weed growth.

Feed flowers in the spring with a balanced 10-10-10 or 12-12-12 fertilizer. For roses, use fertilizer for acid-loving plants, or a rose-specific fertilizer. This nutrition gives the plants more resources for blooming. Feed the plants again in mid-summer to maintain good blooms. Always follow manufacturer directions in regard to fertilizer application.

Cut and prune your plants to maintain blooms. Cut the blooms when they have opened fully, to encourage the plants to produce more flowers. Deadhead the plants as well: pluck off wasted blooms to signal to the plant that it should produce more flowers.