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Grow Your Own Flowers for Cutting

Taught by David Hurrion

What could be better than picking a bunch of homegrown flowers to welcome you and your visitors indoors

Course Description

BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Bring the natural beauty of home-grown flowers into your home with David Hurrion’s Grow Your Own Flowers for Cutting course. Get great results and save money by growing different types of plants that will ensure you have beautiful blooms and foliage to cut from your plot over a long season. The course will start by showing you which types of plants and flowers are great for cutting from your own garden, how and when to cut flowers and foliage so they last in water and ways to create some simple arrangements.

In lesson two, you’ll learn how to grow quick-flowering annual flowers that will form the mainstay of pretty summer arrangements, together with herbs for aromatic foliage.

Then in lesson three you’ll discover the best perennial plants and bulbs that will come back year after year to provide you with blooms and seedheads from one season to the next.

And the last lesson shows how to ensure you have enough foliage to use in your displays and arrangements, as well as having unusual and more common flowers to cut, by planting shrubs and roses.

Course outline

  • Cutting and using plants from your own garden

    Discover the benefits of growing your own flowers for cutting, the different types you can grow to be sure of having something to cut at any time of year, and how to harvest them so they last as long as possible. Understand how different plants grow and where they produce flowers. 
Explore different types of plants that can be grown as cut flowers. 
Choose whether to use part of your garden as a cutting patch. 
Grow plants in suitable conditions, such as sheltered, warm well-lit positions. 
Identify the correct stage of development to cut flowers. 
Understand the best time of day to pick flowers. Know where to cut on the plant when harvesting. Understand the importance of plunging cut stems into bucket of water. Know how to re-cut stems to length in the appropriate way. Appreciate basic ‘balance’ in a simple floral vase arrangement. Learning what cut flowers need to last in a vase.

  • Sow plants from seed

    Learn about the different types of annuals and tender plants that can be grown from seed in a single season, how to sow them – either indoors or out – and the best place to grow the plants you’ve raised from seed. Identify the benefits of growing these plants en-masse for cutting. Understand the importance of successional sowing to create a regular supply of flowers to cut. Explore the different types of summer flowers and herb varieties that can be grown from seed. Understand what a seed is and the conditions required for germination. Discover the benefits of sowing in pots and protected sowing. Identify suitable annuals for sowing direct in the open ground. Choosing suitable compost, additives and preparing for sowing pots and containers. How to fill pots and trays with compost ready for sowing. Methods for sowing seed in containers. Which seeds to cover and which to leave uncovered. Watering methods for different seeds. Choosing the best place to grow summer flower and herbs in your plot. How to seed directly in the soil. Transplanting seedlings and young plants into their final positions. Caring for your crop of cut flowers.

  • Choosing herbaceous perennials to grow for cut flowers

    Identify the benefits of growing herbaceous plants, ornamental grasses and bulbs to provide material for cutting, choose the best places to grow them and make more plants so you’ve got plenty of flowers to pick. Understand what a perennial plant is and the meaning of herbaceous. Learn about the different types of bulbous material that can be grown for cutting in spring and summer. Select appropriate herbaceous perennials according to suitability for cutting. Build up a knowledge of suitable plants in this category to flower at different times of year. Discover the importance of ‘right plant right place’ when choosing Learn methods of extending the flowering season/period for these plants. Discover simple ways of propagating suitable herbaceous perennials to provide more flowers for cutting. Identify different plants that can provide seedheads and dried foliage for autumn and winter arrangements.

  • Growing shrubs and roses for cutting

    Learn how permanent plantings of garden shrubs and roses can provide useful foliage and flowers, discover the best way to prune them to get the right growth for cutting and find out how to treat the cut stems so they last in the vase. Identify the benefits of using foliage in floral arrangements. Discover the best types of trees and shrubs for foliage that are also decorative or perform a useful function in the garden. Select roses for repeat-flowering and other attributes that make them good for using as cut flowers. Harvest material from shrubs correctly so as not to damage the stems or the plant. Deadhead roses to encourage the production of a succession of blooms. Identify roses and shrub varieties that will go on to produce hips or berries for autumn and winter arrangements. Choose places in the garden to grow shrubs for foliage cutting. Discover how to prune suitable trees and shrubs to promote the growth of abundant, good quality foliage or coloured stems. Learn how to prune roses to encourage good stem length for cutting. Identify the best stage of flower development for cutting roses to bring indoors. Discover ways of cutting stems when harvesting and preparing for foliage or flower to extend their vase life.

Choose how you want to learn

  • The Expert option

    Recommended

    Develop your learning further with marked assignments and personal tuition from David Hurrion

    • Start course whenever you like
    • 4 weeks tutor access for personalised assignment feedback & coaching
    • 4 assignments marked by David Hurrion
    • Certificate of completion from David Hurrion
    • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
    • 4 lessons with expert videos & notes
    • Group chat & direct message with tutor & classmates
    • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
    Learn more
    $299.00

  • The Peer option

    Discover the benefits of group learning in an online interactive classroom of no more than 20 people. Get the most from shared knowledge and community study

    • Start course whenever you like
    • Practise what you learn with your peers
    • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
    • 4 lessons with expert videos & notes
    • 4 course assignments
    • Group chat & direct message classmates
    • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
    Learn more
    $99.00
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About David Hurrion

David has been growing plants for more than 40 years and worked in gardens and nurseries, growing on a range of different soils and in different regions of the UK. His extensive knowledge and practical experience of plants, crops and growing techniques is founded on a thorough botanical and scientific training. 
He has spent more than 20 years writing for and editing the nation’s crop of garden magazines and websites, most recently as Deputy and now Associate Editor for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine. David has appeared on TV and radio, both as a regular contributor and an expert commentator, as well as on gardenersworld.com in many practical videos.
He has designed, built and planted show gardens and display stands at most of the major garden shows in the UK, including the world famous Chelsea Flower Show, and is now a Floral Judge for the Royal Horticultural Society. David is a popular figure in the horticultural world, well liked and respected for his knowledge by nurserymen, professional gardeners, journalists and the gardening public.
As a trained teacher, David has taught a huge diversity of subjects from botany, soil science and plant identification, to propagation, garden design and crop production, and from City & Guilds through to Degree level. He is also a popular speaker with local gardening groups and presents a range of courses and masterclasses at locations around the UK.

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    2 Courses • Taught by 1 Expert Tutor
    BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

    BBC Gardeners’ World is Britain’s biggest gardening brand, led by the flagship BBC2 programme for over 50 years. The magazine is the UK’s biggest-selling gardening title while gardenersworld.com is the country’s leading gardening website. Our award-winning editorial contains regular contributions from the top names in BBC gardening, delivering practical advice and inspiration.

    BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine’s Associate Editor, David Hurrion has been a regular contributor and expert commentator on both television and radio, with over 40 years gardening experience. David is a trained teacher and popular speaker with local gardening groups and presents a range of courses and masterclasses at locations around the UK.

    Learn more

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