One of the things I hear from other women is that they don’t want to pick their own garden flowers for fear of losing the colour and beauty outdoors.  I completely understand this!

It wasn’t until I read the book "The Cut Flower Patch" by Louise Curley that I learned the best way to overcome the guilt of picking your own garden flowers is to actually plant some of them with the intent that you will be cutting them. 

This is one of the early tips that started me on my flower-growing journey!  I wanted to be able to cut my own flowers and not feel like I was leaving a barren garden in my wake.

When you intentionally grow a few extra flowers for cutting, you don't have to feel bad about taking them from the garden. 

With tulips for example, plant some of your fall bulbs in high-vis areas where you want that pop of colour outdoors.  Plant some more in other areas, maybe mixed in with perennials or shrubs, where you won’t notice or miss them once they are brought indoors. 

Now… it’s likely that you didn’t plant your tulips last fall with the intent to cut them and stick them in a vase this spring.  Not to worry!  I have a solution that will allow you to bring a few indoors to enjoy without the guilt of cutting them.

The trick is to dig them up with the bulbs still attached! 

When done this way, even a single tulip makes an impactful display. 

So, if you are concerned about taking flowers out of your garden to enjoy indoors this spring, here is something you can try and you won’t even notice the bloom missing from the garden.  

Just follow these few simple steps:

Step 1.  Scan your tulips and choose one or two that have fully coloured-up but have not yet opened all the way.  Better yet, find a bulb that has one or two 'baby' tulips coming from it as well!

Step 2.  Using a trowel or small spade, gently dig up the bulbs you have chosen - be careful not to break the stem from the bulb or damage any other nearby tulips.

Step 3.  Gently rinse the bulb to clean off most of the soil and leave as many roots attached as possible.

Step 4.  Choose a mason jar or vase that is wide enough at the neck and bottom to fit one or two bulbs and tall enough to support the length of the tulip (which will continue to grow and get longer!)

Step 5.  Add a small amount of water to cover just the bottom half of the bulb (usually about an inch of water is enough).  Also, make sure you check the water level every day or two, since it is taken up by the flower and evaporates too.

Enjoy!!

Tulips done this way look beautifully unique and tend to last way longer inside because they are still getting energy from all the nutrients stored in the bulb.  Then, when they are finally done and the petals fall off, you can simply pop the bulb back into the garden – no guilt!

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Kinglet Consulting offers garden coaching and residential landscape design in Nanaimo, BC.  Subscribe to our mailing list so you never miss a blog post - as a thank you, you'll get a free guide: Four Easy-to-Grow Annual Flowers for the Nanaimo Area Home Garden.  If you want to try growing the flowers described in the Guide, we have cut-flower seed starter packs available in the shop!

Happy Gardening!