What Cut Flowers Should I Grow in Northwest Arkansas?
It’s true! My favorite hobby? It’s cut flower gardening in Northwest Arkansas! I mean, it would probably be my favorite hobby anywhere but, since I’m a Fayetteville girl, I’ll say it again: I love cut flower gardening in Arkansas.
While I started my first garden on a whim (I never watered it!) and started my second garden as a bug haven for Henry (totally fell in love!), I started planting cut flowers in 2019 to create bouquets for photo sessions, specifically product shoots for Opal and June. Since then, we have planted hundreds of plants, thousands of seeds, and over 65 rose bushes. If you love chaos gardening, Northwest Arkansas, and cut flowers, you’re in the right place!
Huge shoutout to my husband Andrew for being along for the ride during our episode today! I freaking love him, even if I did once call him a soulless robot in a fleeting moment I can’t remember, lol. Cannot wait to talk about cut flowers with you today!
More About Cut Flower Gardening in Fayetteville! Zone 7a Gardening
In Fayetteville, we are constantly at Westwood Gardens.
Our biggest ever rose bush (New Dawn!) was purchased from Westwood. Most of our herbs, perennials, and about a third of our roses came from Westwood and I buy out their rocket snapdragons, like, as soon as they put them out. We also use them for most of our hanging baskets and all of our annuals, too! I’m also a sucker for clearance plants at big box stores like Walmart and Lowes, love Tractor Supply, and am always grabbing seeds from small shops whenever I come across them. I just can’t help myself, y’know? There’s never a good time to just leave a little seed pack sitting all alone, lol.
Here’s a few of my fave online shops for seeds: Baker Creek Seeds, Johnny Seeds, Swallow Tail Garden Seeds
Favorite online shops for roses: Heirloom Roses, High Country Roses, Grace Rose Farms, and Jackson & Perkins
My dahlias? They’re almost all from Swan Island Dahlias!
And My Favorite Cut Flowers in Northwest Arkansas?
In alphabetical order! Cosmos, dahlias, daisies, phlox, roses, snapdragons, sunflowers, and zinnias.
Honorable mentions: Pansies, peonies, and hydrangeas.
Also should add! I love growing poppies, tulips, and daffodils but left them out of my lists since there can be a bit more nuance to growing most of these / they can be intimidating for a new gardener. If you’re afraid of starting your garden, I say grab a pack of zinnias, a pack of sunflowers, and a rose bush or two, too! If you’re buying (or browsing!) online, you can sort most rose bush product listings with a “makes a good cut flower” filter. Have so much fun, y’all!
And photos!! All these bouquets were totally grown in our garden. I’m so proud of ’em!
Our Favorite Villes: A Photo Series + Podcast About Amazing People in Northwest Arkansas
If you love Northwest Arkansas – Fayetteville, Bentonville, and everywhere in between! – this is the photo series + podcast for you! I freaking love creating this fun photo series and am so excited to share it with you! So! Love Northwest Arkansas, colorful photographs, love hearing about our community and love podcast interviews full of awesome people who love our amazing community? Fantastic! I’m so glad you found me!
Our Favorite Villes is available on all major podcast streaming platforms. New episodes every Thursday!
Want to be part of Our Favorite Villes? Contact me here!
Galleries + Links + More
Weddings | Engagements | Seniors | Families | Personal | Photographers
Etsy Shops: Tee Shirts + Sweatshirts + Puzzles + Flower Prints | Mockup Photos
Based in Fayetteville, Arkansas Lissa Chandler is a portrait and wedding photographer who celebrates life one photograph at a time. Lissa is also the owner of Opal and June where she offers mockup photographs, bookish + history merch, and the dreamiest photoshoot dress rentals. Additionally, Lissa is the host of the laid back, conversational podcasts Your Photographer Mom and Our Favorite Villes.
As a creative photographer in Northwest Arkansas, Lissa doesn’t niche down on a genre. She niches on a feeling instead! That feeling? The huge, happy feeling of hope and excitement that you feel as a kid opening up a huge box of 120 crayons. Sound like a feeling you remember? Let’s shoot!