Creating a Perennial Cutting Garden

I always have a hard time cutting flowers from my garden to bring indoors. I work so hard to get certain combinations to bloom at the same time, I hate to detract from the show by snipping the standouts. Last year I finally decided to put in some plants especially designated for cutting. Surprisingly, I gravitated toward perennials, not the usual cutting annuals. Annuals are great for cutting, because the more you cut them, they more flowers you get. But I wanted peonies, globe thistle and dahlias. So I designed an entire cutting garden of just perennials. It won't be perpetually in bloom, but the foliage of these plants will stay attractive.

Here's the garden plan of a perennial cutting garden for you to take and use or change to suit your taste. You can even tuck in some annual cutting flowers, for even longer blooms.