Today, we’re diving into the wonderful world of Echinacea, which is both an herb and a flower commonly known as coneflower. With its striking daisy-like appearance and vibrant hues, Echinacea is not just a beautiful addition to your garden and bouquets, but also a powerhouse in eco-gardening.

Roses, with their captivating beauty and delightful fragrance, are an excellent choice for any cutting garden. At Sweet Earth Co. we grow several varieties of roses and are excited to add 10 new varieties this spring. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting out, here's a guide to spring pruning and maintaining your roses for a flourishing cutting garden.

Here are a few of my favorite late blooming fall perennials that also make for good cut flowers.

Yarrow is a must-have perennial. It is deer and drought resistant, pollinator friendly, and naturalizes easily (which means it can grow on it’s own and produce a new generation without human assistance).

At Sweet Earth Co. farm it is an early summer workhorse we count on to bring filler blooms to our bouquets and its medicinal herb properties to our teas. For our landscape clients, it’s ideal for cottage, pollinator, meadow, and low-maintenance xeriscape gardens.

Snip a few stems from your landscape, responsibly-forage for others, and bring some of that beauty indoors. Give your creative senses some free reign and create some spring-inspired floral arrangements. If you’re not sure where to start, utilize one of these design principles when pulling together your own grown and gathered bouquet.

Dicentra spectabilis, commonly known as Bleeding Heart, has quickly become one of my favorite spring perennials. Its arching stems laden with dangling heart-shaped blooms may make this plant seem dainty and ephemeral, but it is actually a hardy garden workhorse.

When I started growing cut flowers no perennial plant in my garden was safe from my shears. I took cuttings from all of my flowering perennials to see which had good vase life. My Geum stems lasted 5-7 days in fresh water with no preservative. They were a great addition to my spring bouquets, adding bounce, movement and whimsy. For the longest lasting cut flowers, pick when the blooms are half open. Geum will bloom from May through July, and if you cut or deadhead, they will reward you with a second flush of blooms in early fall.

You may know all about the great spring-blooming bulbs you can plant in the fall, but did you know that there are annuals you can grow from seed that will survive over-winter? You can put them in the ground in September and they'll bloom in the spring.