The 10 best books on growing and arranging flowers, chosen by our expert flower farmer

Her choices showcase florists’ favourites, from peonies and sweet peas to dahlias, and looks to a broad range of inspiration from Sarah Raven’s cutting-garden bible to Piet Oudolf ’s New Perennial plant communities.

IN FULL FLOWER: INSPIRED DESIGNS BY FLORAL’S NEW CREATIVES

In Full Flower is a visual feast for floral lovers. Its breathtaking photography is the work of photographers Gemma and Andrew Ingalls and features 21 influential floral designers across the USA, who all share a more natural aesthetic. Each is introduced with a brief biography and insight into their creative process and inspirations.

Full colour spreads showcase the designer’s floral masterpieces alongside working, studio and portrait shots. Its hardcover, and the 300 full pages of photographs, clearly define it as a coffee-table book, but one I still refer to for inspiration – I have drawn ideas on colour palettes, plants to grow, vessels and styling for my own shoots.

Despite being eight years old, the work feels contemporary and fresh. Many of my favourite designers were discovered through it including Ariella Chezar, Max Gill, Emily Thompson and Sarah Winward, all of whom I still follow and admire today.

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LIFE WITH FLOWERS: INSPIRATION AND LESSONS FROM THE GARDEN

In this, her second book, renowned American potter Frances Palmer takes us out of the studio and into her garden in Connecticut to look at the flowers she grows to arrange into her pots.

Through six distinctive growing periods over the gardening year, described as ‘waves’, we are treated to the symbiotic relationship between her favourite flowers and distinctive vessels.

Each period has a designated chapter to delve into her favourite flower varieties, offering cultivation tips, arranging techniques and, most interestingly to me, reflections on how these blooms influence her pottery.

Her floral selections feel very personal: each comes with an anecdote on how she discovered and came to grow the flower. Her rich photography and signature painted backdrops set the scene for the relationship of her vases to the flowers. This treat of a book is a celebration of the symbiotic relationship between nature, art and the creative process.

Watch the Cut Flowers from your Garden Gardens Illustrated masterclass with Rachel Siegfried.

LATE SUMMER FLOWERS

Many of us struggle to keep the garden in flower beyond its midsummer zenith. In this book, Marina Christopher focuses on late-flowering perennials that will give interest all the way through into autumn. She highlights the beauty of not just the plants’ flowers but their foliage, form and seedheads. As a nursery owner, she conveys so much experience on the subject of propagation, much of it from unorthodox methods gleaned from trial and error.

Equally, her advice on how to manipulate the seasons to prolong flowering is invaluable. Christopher is also a passionate naturalist and weaves this into all of her plant descriptions, explaining which birds
and insects will benefit. Her expertise shines through in her writing, which clearly comes from first-hand experience. It is full of gems, both in terms of practical tips and astute plant selections.

DESIGNING WITH PLANTS

In this seminal work written by a key figure within the New Perennial movement, Piet Oudolf explains his philosophy and practice of naturalistic garden design. Unsurprisingly, perennials are his passion. He emphasises selecting plants with good form, texture, light and movement, rather than solely focusing on fleeting colour; these characteristics are important as Oudolf considers the whole lifecycle of a plant and how it should contribute throughout the seasons to a design.

His philosophy has had a huge influence on my approach to floral design and to the plant choices I have made for my materials. Oudolf ’s palette of plants, some of which are his own varieties bred for specific design purposes, are primarily categorised based on their form.

This is followed by advice on how to combine them to create different moods and emotions in the garden and, in my case, the vase.

FLORET FARM’S A YEAR IN FLOWERS: DESIGNING GORGEOUS ARRANGEMENTS FOR EVERY SEASON

In this second of three books produced by Erin Benzakein of Floret Flower Farm, the focus is on arranging with seasonal flowers and foliage in a natural style.

Like all of her writing, it is thoughtfully structured and narrated. The beautiful photography is by her husband Chris, with page after page of lush and vibrant images of the farm making it as much a pleasure to look at as to read. I particularly enjoyed Benzakein’s chapter on her design philosophy, which gives a good grounding on working with colour.

The ingredient lists for arrangements are divided into six elements, from the initial structural foliage to the airy finishing accents. This step-by-step approach to materials is then illustrated across 25 seasonal arrangement tutorials. From a grower’s perspective, this practical guide to floral design is an invaluable resource when selecting what to grow.

THE CUTTING GARDEN: GROWING AND ARRANGING GARDEN FLOWERS

I hold this much-treasured first book of Sarah Raven’s responsible for setting me on the path to becoming a flower farmer. It opened my eyes to all the garden plants that could be cut and brought into the home.

It was published 35 years ago but still feels fresh and relevant today, I think partly because of its inclusion of plenty of shrubs, perennials and bulbs – a more sustainable option than annuals. These are illustrated in her natural-style arrangements and in the beautifully designed directory of her ‘personal favourites’, of which there are characteristically a good 500.

She helpfully groups her seasonal selections into colours and you can tell from her engaging descriptions of the plants that she has first-hand experience of working with them. Raven loves a plant trial, so there are plenty of cultivar recommendations and suggestions on how to combine them in the vase.

Her floral selections feel very personal: each comes with an anecdote on how she discovered and came to grow the flower

A WORLD OF SWEET PEAS

As a grower and lover of sweet peas for more than 20 years, I have collected a number of books about these cherished flowers. This latest offering, published last year, wins the prize for being both the most visually appealing and informative.

It is beautifully photographed, with hundreds of high-quality images of mouthwatering varieties and floral displays to conjure up ideas of what else to grow to arrange with them. The book opens with a rich, historical narrative, tracing the journey of sweet peas from their Sicilian origins to their global popularity.

Detailed cultivation advice follows, which reflects the collaborative nature of the book and has been tailored to the different climates the authors are growing in, with useful tips from both the Swedish (Wingård) and British (Johnson) perspective. Beyond the primary classifications, I was intrigued
by the exploration of scent classification and the nuances of sweet pea fragrance, as it is such an essential part of a sweet pea’s allure.

Raven loves a plant trial, so there are plenty of cultivar recommendations and suggestions on how to combine them

THE FLOWER FARMER: AN ORGANIC GROWER’S GUIDE TO RAISING AND SELLING CUT FLOWERS

Eighteen years ago, when I was planning on becoming a flower farmer, this was the only book available on the subject. Written by an American flower farmer, it was my bible and now, thanks to the expanded second edition, is still a valuable resource.

For a novice, the opening chapters on getting started were thorough, clearly explained and reassuringly relatable, with plenty of references to Byczynski’s own experiences and lessons learned on growing flowers for a living.

The newer edition observes the changes to the climate and how to adopt a more sustainable approach. It has a new chapter on season extension and a monthly guide to polytunnel crop production. There is more emphasis on the business of flower farming too, with advice about selling to different markets. The book ends with 100 genera of flowers recommended for fresh or dried cut flowers, many of which we grow on our farm.

Erin Benzakein’s love for dahlias is paired with her deep knowledge of how to grow, harvest and arrange them

DISCOVERING DAHLIAS: A GUIDE TO GROWING AND ARRANGING MAGNIFICENT BLOOMS

Dahlias were the first cut flowers I ever grew back in the 1990s, when they were deeply unfashionable. Now that these flowers have come in from the cold, it is good to finally see some books being dedicated to them. Erin Benzakein’s love for dahlias is paired with her deep knowledge of how to grow, harvest and arrange them.

She begins with their classifications, illustrating the diversity of shape and size. Her advice on overwintering the tubers successfully will be invaluable to many a gardener who has faced the disappointment of rotten tubers.

One of the joys of growing dahlias is propagating them. Benzakein sets out the different methods, and even goes into how to hybridise to create your own varieties. There is an extensive directory of 350 varieties, organised by colour. Admittedly, as this book is American, many of the varieties are not available in the UK, but they are so beautifully captured that the book is just pure inspiration.

PEONIES

Peonies play one of the starring roles on our flower farm. These divas of the floral world demand plenty of time and investment, so I was delighted when peony expert and nursery woman Claire Austin produced this reference book.

Drawing from nearly 40 years of first-hand experience with these plants, she includes 350 varieties, including herbaceous, intersectional and tree peonies. Each has a concise description and photograph. For cutting, I was particularly interested in the chapter on hybrid peonies, characterised by the singles and semi-doubles.

There is plenty of practical advice, including the varieties that don’t need staking, how to lift and divide peonies and what to plant with them. If you are planning to grow a field of peonies, the guide to flowering times and colours is especially helpful and can stretch their short season to up to a heavenly six weeks, rain permitting.