5 Flowers I’m Growing Again in 2025
As I head into my second year of planting cut-flowers, I want to take some time to discuss the flowers I will be planting again in 2025. These were my out-performers, my easy-to-growers, my so-freaking-beautiful-ers!
In 2024, I started a mini flower-farm in my ⅛ acre garden. It began as a way to escape my job and grew into a passion for all things flowers. I learned so much more than I expected and had so much fun learning about seed starting indoors, how to plant in my USDA hardiness zone, how to transition plants outdoors, and how to harvest and make bouquets from cut flowers!
I also learned which flowers I do not enjoy growing – whether it’s because they are difficult to care for, require a lot of effort, or simply just not my “type” of cut flower for bouquets.
But, I digress. Let’s dive into the flowers I love and why I will be planting them again in my 2025 garden!
- Snapdragons
- Gomphrena
- Sun Ball (Craspedia)
- Eucalyptus
- Zinnias
#1 – Snapdragons
Snapdragons are my all-time favorite cut flower. If I could recommend one flower to begin growing, it would be Snapdragons. They are so incredibly beautiful and they are relatively easy to grow. My favorite part about snapdragons is that they come in beautiful vibrant colors, and they are “cut and come again” flowers – meaning they will continue to produce beautiful blooms after you cut them.
Snapdragons need some support throughout the season to grow straight and upright for beautiful arrangements. I like to use a single layer of Hortnova netting placed 18” above the ground. As the plants grow taller, they will grow into the netting which helps support the weight of the blooms and keeps them upright through wind storms.
I also pinch my snapdragons when they have 3-4 sets of leaves or when they’re about 6 inches tall. It’s scary to chop off an inch or two of your beautiful new plant that you’ve worked so hard to grow – but trust the process! Pinching will cause your plant to grow multiple flowers from low on the plant instead of growing just one or two flowers – resulting in more blooms and longer stems – perfect for cutting.
#2 – Gomphrena
Gomphrena, also called globe amaranth, are beautiful flowers with round colorful globe-like blooms. They are perfect for adding variety and pops of color to bouquets, and grow very well rain or shine.
Not only is Gomphrena easy to grow, but the plants are also very large – meaning you don’t have to plant very many seeds to get an abundance of blooms. Gomphrena plants are bush-like and do not require support like other flowers do.
They also do not need pinched – they are kind of a set it and forget it flower – which make them super easy to maintain for beginners and experienced gardeners alike!
#3 – Sun Ball
Sun Ball, also called Craspedia, are also small globe or ball-like flowers. They have long stems and mustard-yellow colored blooms. They are great for both fresh bouquets and dried.
Sun balls were some of my out-performers in last year’s garden. While they did require some support with Hortnova netting due to my area’s strong winds, they otherwise were easy-keepers and didn’t require much effort or babying.
My favorite way to use sun balls are in a dried bouquet of browns and whites to help add some color and create a whimsical look. They are also great for dried crafts like wreaths – and they do great as a bouquet by themselves! Sun balls are definitely an essential flower to grow in your cutting garden.
#4 – Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is my favorite foliage to grow for cut flowers and for standalone eucalyptus projects! While they are a perennial, I grow them as an annual in zone 5 and start them early in the year (January or February).
Eucalyptus are relatively easy to grow – but they prefer to have drier soil than most other flowers, so you have to be careful not to over-water them. They also have deep, extensive roots which require them to be potted up to avoid stunting their growth and keep them growing big and tall.
I like to pot them up often to give their roots plenty of room to grow and keep them from becoming stunted.
Eucalyptus do not need to be pinched, as they naturally grow many eucalyptus stems per plant. Eucalyptus are so versatile in their uses as a cut flower – they make great additions to any bouquet, are beautiful as a bouquet by themselves, and can be used for so many crafts when dried or preserved in glycerin.
My favorite ways to use my eucalyptus plants are bunched together as a shower steamer and by themselves in a vase preserved with glycerin.
#5 – Zinnias
Last but certainly not least – a true classic – the zinnia. Zinnia’s are one of the easiest and most colorful cut flowers to grow. They come in many colors and varieties, and are basically a sow it and forget it flower!
Zinnias grow in just about any zone and have a short length from sowing seeds to blooming flowers. If you pinch them, you get a much larger bush-like plant with abundant colorful stems.
Zinnias are also very tough plants and do not require babying – I forgot to water mine for a couple weeks in the middle of the hot summer and they still did great with occasional rain on nature’s schedule! Obviously a bit more care is required for happy blooms, but overall they are super easy to care for.
One of my favorite things to do with zinnias is harvest their seeds at the end of the season. That way I don’t have to buy more seeds next year, and I get the joy of experiencing the new unique blooms that arise from last year’s crop.
Simply wait until the blooms are dry and crumbling in the fall, remove the flower heads, and gently break apart the flower head to expose the seeds. Fertile seeds have a black node on the fattest part of the seed. The next year, I just sprinkle the seeds directly into the ground in May or June, keep the soil watered, and I end up with beautiful tall blooms in about 90 days!
Which flowers are you growing again this year? Leave a comment telling me your favorites and don’t forget to sign up for my email list to be the first to know about my next blog post!
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