10 Beginner-Friendly Flowers to Grow in Your Garden
It’s hard to believe, but 2025 marks 5 years since I started to truly get into gardening, and I’m definitely still only in the beginning stages of learning all about gardening. The best part about having a garden is knowing there is always going to be more to learn, and every year gets to be a little experiment.
Though I do enjoy growing vegetables and herbs, my real favourite thing is growing cut flowers, because who doesn’t love to be able to cut their own bouquet when they want? If you’re new to growing cut flowers, you may not be sure where to start, so I created a list of my top 10 favourite beginner-friendly flowers that you should consider growing in your garden throughout the year.
01. Zinnias
Not only are zinnias are a beautiful addition to your garden and bouquets, but pollinators absolutely love them. You can even plant them amongst your vegetable garden encourage bees and butterflies to come for a visit. They are also a flower that the more you cut, the more they produce! My personal favourites include: Queeny Lime Red, Zinderella Lilac and Floret Flowers Alpenglow.
02. Cosmos
Another flower that pollinators love to flock to are cosmos. I love to use zinnias and cosmos in my dahlia beds to encourage the pollinators to come visit. They come in a variety of colours, and shapes. Some of my favourites are Cupcake Blush, Purity and Apricot Lemonade. Cosmos also produce more blooms the more you cut them.
03. Dahlias
Speaking of dahlias, they are another great beginner friendly flower to add to your garden, though the process is a bit more tedious. Dahlias can grow from seed, but you won’t know what variety you will have growing that way. If you want to know, you will plant from tuber, and depending on your grow zone, you may need to pull them up over the winter. Similar to cosmos and zinnias, the more you cut dahlias for cut flowers, the more they’ll produce. My personal favourites are Café au Lait, Peaches & Cream and Castle Drive.
04. Sweet Peas
Though I must admit I haven’t personally grown sweet peas in my garden (yet, 2026 is coming…), they’re another great addition and easy to grow from seed. These flowers grow quite tall though, and you will need to provide some sort of trellis for it to grow up. They also look absolutely gorgeous in bouquets. The varieties I’m hoping to grow include Emma, Turquoise, and Kiera Madeline.
05. Stock
Stock is one of my absolute favourites to grow, but there are some major downsides to this flower. It may be easy to grow, but they take a while, and prefer cooler temperatures, so this is an ideal spring and fall crop. Additionally, they’re a single cut flower, so once you cut it for a bouquet, nothing will grow in its place. If you want to grow stock in your garden and are looking for recommendations, my favourites are Lemon Chiffon, Lavender and Apricot.
06. Ranunculus
Another cool weather flower that you’ll plant in the early spring (and can handle a light frost!) is ranunculus. Many people know and have seen ranunculus, but aren’t sure what they’re called. They are absolutely beautiful Italian flowers that I always say I will never grow again, but yet continue to do so. Similarly to dahlias, they are quite tedious in the starting stages, and grow from something called a corm, not seed. If you want to take on the challenge of ranunculus growing, my favourites are Bianco, Rosa Chiaro and Purple Jean.
07. Feverfew
Not only is feverfew just absolutely beautiful on its own, it makes a stellar filler for a bouquet. Feverfew looks very similar to chamomile when it grows, and adds a touch of whimsy to your garden and cut flower selections. In some zones, feverfew is also a perennial, so you may only have to plant once!
08. Statice
Another favourite filler flower of mine is statice. Similarly to stock, statice takes quite a while to grow, and you won’t be reaping the benefits of adding it to a bouquet until mid-to-late summer, but it can really bulk up a bouquet quickly! I personally like to grow Sunset Mix and Light Blue varieties.
09. Snapdragons
Though it may be lower on the list, snapdragons are by far one of my absolute favourite, favourite, favourite flowers to grow in the garden. They can get quite tall, and will require staking, but the more you cut, the more they produce! There are so many varieties, and pollinators absolutely love them. Some of my favourite varieties include: Lavender, Chantilly Light Salmon and Avignon Apricot.
10. Anemones
Last, but certainly not least are anemones. Similarly to ranunculus, they are a spring, cool tolerant flower that grows from a corm, not a seed. The more you cut anemones, the more they produce as well! They pair beautifully in bouquets with ranunculus, stock and other cool tolerant flowers. They are also quite tedious to start, but well worth the effort. I personally love to grow Rarity, Bianco Centro Nero and Rosa Chiaro varieties.
There you have it! Those are my 10 beginner-friendly flowers that I highly recommend you grow in your garden. I know it seems like an odd time of year to consider what flowers to grow in the summer, but if you’re hoping to grow anemones or ranunculus, now is the time that they’ll begin to go on sale for you to plant in the new year! Let me know your favourite flower in the comments below.
