View of the wildly unproductive (disgustingly buggy) patch of Lysimachia ‘Beaujolais’ in 2021

December 22, 2021

During the growing season I keep a notebook of observations in the field, as every dutiful, observant farmer should do (if you’re not a notebook person, become one now! It’s super helpful to look back on!) In my farm notebook, I record everything from the bugs and weeds, to the tasks we accomplished that day, to observations I make about the soil, to measurements and plans for new plantings. I’ll also do myself a favor and make very succinct decisions about what flowers are currently sucking and that I should never, ever grow again.

In my first three years on our flower farm (2018-2020) I recorded 40 cut flowers and foliage that I nixed from the grow plan, along with the reason(s) why — you can read about those here.

In the 2021 growing season, I’m cutting more flowers and foliage from the program.

Every year is a new opportunity to hone in on what crops are the most productive and useful in your field. Everyone’s growing situation is completely different, so please do not let this list deter you from trying to grow any of these plants for cut flowers. I keep lists like this for my own reference, but also so that it might help another person come to a conclusion, or help them understand that it’s okay to give up on something that isn’t working out so there is room for something new. Part of the joy of this job is learning and trying new things every year — and I love sharing that part of the journey!

Cut Flowers & Foliage that we won’t grow in 2022

ECHINACEA - This makes me sad. I even wrote about Echinacea being one of my favorite perennial cut flowers. This fall, however, I dug out the entire patch of Echinacea pupurea ‘Magnus’ and ‘White Swan’ because the petals were decimated by Japanese beetles for the past three years. I did use and sell the bright orange centers; however, those are just a textural filler and don’t gather much profit (we have to think of our flowers, which are our crops, in terms of profit or we’ll never stay afloat). So I’ve given this space up to plant other perennials that are more productive, bug tolerant, and that I know will sell.

DILL - I have a hard time selling this as a cut flower to florists. Also, it’s very finicky in heat spells.

SCABIOSA ‘STELLATA’ - I may change my mind on this one in the future, but I don’t use much of the dried pod Scabiosa. I tend to forget to cut and then it over-dries and over-browns in the field. Stems are short — which makes it cute for boutonnieres, but not much else. I’m going to skip it next year and see if I don’t miss it.

SALPIGLOSSIS ‘Superbissima’ - This is not a cut flower on many people’s radar. I tried it for fun because when you google this flower you’ll find photos of gorgeous petals that appear to be hand painted. It is underwhelming in person though, and seems to be a wimpy cut.

CELOSIA - BOMBAY varieties - For some reason the heads grew in deformed and short. That’s probably a me-thing. I’ll stick to growing my favorite Chief series cockscomb celosias going forward.

MARIGOLD ‘SAVANNAH IVORY’ - I was interested in an ivory marigold for obvious reasons. This one, while it did have adequate stem length, the blossoms would rot in the cooler after one day.

NASTURTIUM - Oh nasturtium, I love you. You were one of the first flowers I ever grew back in the veggie farming days, but alas, I’m finally saying it outloud: you’re a sucky cut flower.

SUNFLOWERS (ALL) - I am not going to grow a single sunflower next year. I barely get any requests for them and I don’t use them nor harvest them in time, ever. Releasing myself of sunflowers and it feels so good.

Growing Statice from seed - I’m only going to buy statice in plug form going forward. Starting from seed is too finicky and I never end up with enough plants… and I absolutely love statice, so we have to have a great crop of it!

LARKSPUR - I’m not cutting larkspur out forever, but I am going to take a break from it next year. I fall-planted a crop of Campanula where I normally plant the larkspur. I want to give something else a try. Also, I’m adding perennial delphiniums in multiple colors to the field next spring, so I may not need larkspur going forward as they have a similar, if not almost identical, look. If I had an endless amount of space, I would keep growing larkspur.

THAI BASIL - Cinnamon basil is much better — longer stems, prettier bloom type, and has a similar leaf coloring.

TULSI HOLY BASIL - Tulsi takes forever to mature — much longer than the other basils. I started growing this plant because of its beautiful healing properties, but I’m nixing it from the flower field because I simply don’t use it for cut foliage very often. I will continue to grow in my home herb garden.

POKEWEED - I had two healthy stands of pokeweed in the farm that I let grow into robust plants — more like trees, if I could call them that. I love pokeweed as a cut flower and do not mind that it is technically an invasive, noxious weed. It has the most unique look to it with bright pink stems and the exotic-looking seed pods before they mature. The plants, when healthy, however, require a huge amount of space and I found myself running into them, getting caught on them, and it just wasn’t worth the hassle. I dug both of the roots out in the fall and they were half the size of my body! I will miss the unique pokeweed branches, I have to admit.

I saved the worst for last….

LYSIMACHIA ‘BEAUJOLAIS’ (Pictured at Top) - I bought this plant in plug form from a wholesaler and I was so excited about it. Turns out, this plant was actually the most disgusting thing I’ve ever had in my field. It attracted a blue type of sawfly caterpillar (at least according to a google search, that’s what I think it is) that ate millions of holes in this crop of plants. Blue caterpillars everywhere. It was disgusting! I don’t have bug problems on my farm so I will be very angry if I now have a sawfly problem — only time will tell. The 10 usable stems I got off this crop of 128 plants turned out to be thorny and poked the shit out of my hands. So if you’re ever considering growing Lysimachia ‘Beaujolais’ as a cut flower… forget it!

peace, love, plant magic & making space for new flowers!

Fran Parrish