Creating bouquets of beautiful blooms from your own garden can give you a great sense of accomplishment. But for most of us, creating a cutting garden – a space completely dedicated to cut flowers – is out of the question. Creating a garden exclusively for cutting can require a great deal of space and be a large time commitment. It’s also a matter of aesthetics.

In the past cutting gardens were placed in out of sight areas where missing flowers couldn’t be seen. Today, cutting gardens can be integrated into your existing garden space. All it takes is a little planning. "A great place to start is with your back border plants," says Kathy Cron, flower marketing manager for Sakata Seed. "Taller varieties are going to look great in a vase, and they may not be as much of a focal point as your smaller border plants. Chances are they won’t create a bare area in the garden when they’re removed."

Here are a few additional tips for integrating cutting flowers into your garden space:

Choose plants that rebloom.
Knowing that you’re not taking the only showpiece from a plant makes it easier to cut the blooms and take them indoors. Choose plants that bloom often. Here are a few examples that go beyond the traditional Lilly or Cosmos:

•	Bachelor’s Button
•	Carnation
•	Dianthus
•	Snapdragon
•	Shasta Daisy
•	Coneflower
•	Endless Summer® Hydrangea
•	Everblooming rose varieties

Choose plants that come into bloom at different times of the season.
When one plant is done blooming the next can begin. Planting multi-season varieties ensures great color in the garden, and in the vase all year long. Here are two to try:

•	Sunflower Choose varieties that are tall, but not the giant, plate size blooms. Start sowing seeds after the danger of frost is over and continue until mid summer. Using this technique allows you to pick sunflowers until the end of the growing season.
•	Tulips Tulips are traditionally short-lived bloomers, but you can extend the life of your tulip garden by choosing different varieties. Tulips are classified as early, mid and late season bloomers. Choosing a little of each type extends your cutting season.

Cutting care
The experts at Garden.org suggest cutting your flowers in the morning or early evening. Be sure to use sharp pruners and put the stems in a pail of lukewarm water as you cut them.

When you’re back in the house recut the stems on a slant, under water. Arrange flowers in a vase of warm water and place the vase in a cool, well-ventilated place.