Top 3 Cut Flowers to Grow in Oklahoma
- Heather Parkins McBride
- Apr 24
- 3 min read
At Cultivate Flower Farm, nestled under big Oklahoma skies, we believe in the magic of growing beauty from the ground up. There’s something sacred about placing a seed in the earth, whispering a little hope into the soil, and watching it unfurl into a bloom that brightens someone’s day.
Through blazing summers, spring storms, and dusty droughts, a few flowers rise strong and steady—carrying color, joy, and resilience with every petal. These are our go-to growers, the stars of our summer bouquets, and the soul of our farm.
Zinnias – The Joymakers
Zinnias are the first to greet us in the field each morning, their bright faces turned to the sun like little bursts of celebration. We call them the "joymakers"—unfussy, hardworking, and vibrant!
How we grow them at Cultivate:
We direct seed them once the danger of frost passes, tucking the seeds into compost-rich rows in mid-April. We plant a few successions of Zinnias, so that we always have vibrant blooms available.
We pinch the tops early to encourage branching, and when we walk the rows, it’s like a rainbow carpet under our boots.
Also, keep spent heads deadheaded, cutting deep into the plant. And these beauties will keep pumping out the blooms!
Harvest hint: We pick when the stems feel sturdy and the petals are wide open. They don't need refrigeration, they will actually turn brown if refrigerated for too long. I leard that the hard way!
Problems to watch for: Zinnias are known to get powdery mildew here in the South. The leaves will turn white and powdery...often they will still produce beautiful blooms, but their production does start declining.
Lisianthus – The Queen of Elegance
If zinnias are joy, lisianthus is grace. Delicate and slow to grow, this flower is a labor of love—and every bloom feels like a little miracle. Their petals look hand-painted, like vintage watercolor roses.
How we grow her:
We start lisianthus from tiny plugs, planting them gently into our high tunnel beds in early spring. Each row is carefully netted to protect the stems, and we whisper encouragement to them as they grow—because these flowers listen, we swear.
They’re slow to bloom, often taking three months or more, but oh, when they do... it’s breathtaking.
Harvest hint: We cut when the first bloom opens and the rest are just beginning to blush. Each stem is like a poem in a vase—soft, romantic, and endlessly elegant.
Seed Starting Lisianthus?: It is possible, but Lisis are one of the harder seeds to start and they take a LONG time from seed to a plug large enought to plant. It is hard for home gardeners to get their hands on Lisi plugs in smaller quantities, but Famer Bailey (a wholesale broker), just started a Garden Club program, to sell small quantities on hard to grow flowers!
Celosia-Fireworks!
Celosia is our summer firework—bold, architectural, and full of personality. From feathery plumes to velvety crests, it adds that wow-factor to any arrangement and keeps blooming even when the Oklahoma sun won’t quit.
Our method:
We transplant celosia in early May, giving them plenty of sun and just enough space to stretch tall. Their colors deepen with heat, and every bloom feels like it’s reaching toward something radiant.
They require little fuss—just water, warmth, and the occasional pep talk.
Harvest hint: When the color is rich and full, we snip and strip in the field, bundling them into armfuls of texture and fire. Some go into fresh bouquets, and others hang in the barn to dry for wreaths and winter magic.
From Our Fields to Your Vase
Every flower we grow at Cultivate Flower Farm begins with intention and care. These three—zinnia, lisianthus, and celosia—are more than just blooms; they’re our companions through the seasons, the anchors of our bouquets, and the heartbeats of our little patch of earth.
We hope their story inspires you to try growing your own—or at the very least, to keep a vase nearby and let the blooms remind you to slow down, breathe deep, and savor something beautiful.
Follow along with us on Instagram [@cultivateflowerfarm], or come visit the fields when they’re in bloom—we’d love to share the magic with you. Summer You-Picks start in mid-June and you will be able to come pick some of these beaties for yourself. Make sure you go to the Home page and enter email so that you will be privy to all the news and event happenings on the farm.
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