When shopping for your cutting garden, consider if you want to group together or segregate the annuals and perennials. Annuals are those flowers and plants that last only one season and have to be replaced every year. Perennials are plants and flowers that last year to year and are usually more expensive at the time of purchase than annuals. The most inexpensive method of purchasing either plant is to buy seed packages and grow your own. However, if you plant your seeds too late you may not have any blooms for that season.
Some flowers grow extremely quickly, such as foxglove or delphinium, while others grow more slowly.
When planning your cutting garden, pay attention to the growing speed of the plants as well as their anticipated height. Mixing shorter plans with taller plants may cause retarded growth or difficulty in cultivating your blooms unless they are planted with the correct distance between them. Plan your garden so that you will have flowers from the earliest part of spring to the latest part of autumn. Early bloomers like deep blue hyacinth, buttercup, yellow crocus and pristine, white snowdrops foretell the prospect of the warmer months ahead, while the deep, rich colors of chrysanthemums and asters provide the last glimmer of warm, fragrant days. Plant your flowers in a design so that when one variety is finished blooming, another is just coming into show.