Flowers, Flowers & More Flowers

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Welcome to the annual flower inspiration post. Photo after photo of flowers to get you out of winter mode and into more of a spring has sprung mindset.

Flower arrangement showcasing dahlia varieties in a low concrete vase.

I live in a small brick century cottage with an English cottage garden out front. That’s not enough space, so I also have a 40' x 40' community garden plot five minutes from home where I grow all my vegetables — and use as an overflow zone for my flower seedlings.

This post? It’s not a tutorial. It’s not a deep dive. It’s just pretty pictures of flowers I arranged (or dropped in a mason jar) from flowers I grew in my garden. This is your official invitation to scroll, get inspired, and possibly feel attacked by zinnias.

You can read about every flower and vegetable I grew last year in this post and soon I'll bring you a list of what I'm growing this year.

Table of Contents

Dahlias – Too Much, Always

And that's what we like about them. The flower below with the little ant having a walkabout is a dahlia that I grew from seed. Of the 10 dahlias I started from seed, this was the only one worth saving.

1st year dahlia from Floret Petite Floret dahlia seeds.

I'll grow it again and compare to see how it looks compared to last year's bloom. If it looks good, I'll save the tubers once more and grow it again next year until I have a stable version of it.

Cut them

The more you cut dahlias, the more they bloom. They enjoy being decapitated. Nature’s little overachievers. They're the WOW flowers of the garden. They're also the biggest pain if you want to save the tubers and regrow them every. year.

There’s no such thing as a low-key dahlia. Once they start blooming you just need to keep cutting them. The more you cut the more they come. Dahlias will bloom right up until frost.

TIP: Pinch the tip of the dahlia seedling when it's about 8" high to create branching, which creates MORE flowers instead of one thick stem and a few big flowers.

Keep cutting the blooms and you'll have endless bouquets. If you don't cut the blooms they'll start shutting down production like an understaffed factory.

Upright rose branch with flower buds in silver compote.

Hot biscuits amaranth, rock star, alpen cherub, and other dahlias in white vase.

Hack it Back

You'll see a few photos of rose branches. When you're trimming or cutting back shrubs, bring the branches inside. The rose branches all bloomed indoors once they were cut.

Living room showcasing flowering rose branches.

Dahlia Fun Fact

Before people decided dahlias were decorative, they ate the tubers like potatoes. The flavour? Somewhere between a carrot and dirt I imagine. Stick to the flowers.

JS Jenny dahlias with a standard poodle keeping watch.

Coral and peach toned dahlias in a glass vase.

The zinnia I’m holding (top right) is from Floret seed I saved. Zinnias cross-pollinate, so if you want to save seed from a specific one, you’ll need to net it — before a bee impregnates it from the zinnia next door.

Would you like to save this stuff?

We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.

Hydrangeas

The name “hydrangea” means “water vessel.” Which is accurate. They drink like a sponge and wilt like it’s their job.

If hydrangeas wilt after a day or two in the vase use one of these two tricks.

Just picked flowers on a marble counter while poodle looks on.

Sculptural white vase with large Asiatic lilies and cress.

The green vase holds Soloman's Seal, a perennial that pops up and flowers early. A handful of stems with just 3 tulips is all I needed for the first arrangement of last spring.

It's not going to win me an award at a fall fair or anything (obviously to win at a fall fair you need a whimsical vase like a boot or a Costco sized bean can) but the first flower arrangement is always a favourite.

Ina Garten's zucchini and goat cheese tart with a bouquet of zinnia and Queen Anne's lace.

Zinnias

Zinnias were once considered too loud for proper Victorian gardens. Too bright, too bold, too Vegas.

Fast forward 150 years to these new, Victorian garden worthy zinnias; pale champagne, blush, butter, peach and lavender blooms from Floret's Victorian Wedding variety. These would have had the Victorians falling all over their fainting couches.

Zinnias arranged in a low compote from Oh Flora.

This is also one of my favourite vases from Oh Flora. Their site also has beautiful arrangements for flower inspiration.

Sometimes a person has time to make a beautiful arrangement. Other times you just stick them in a jar or a vase and walk away.

A messy mix of zinnia, chocolate lace flower and Scabiosa in a glass vase.

A handful of zinnias and scabiosa in a mason jar.

Perennials doing the job before the annuals have really come in. Peonies, rose cuttings, catmint and flowering sage. I couldn't have made a big tall arrangement with these garden bits but they make a nice low arrangement.

You don't always need huge, long stems to make a flower arrangement. Silly.

The first flowers have bloomed this week. The snowdrops.