10 award-winning easy cut flowers

Cut flowers have never been more popular and some of the most reliable choices carry the RHS Recommended: Award of Garden Merit. This trusted mark is given after RHS Plant Trials put plants through their paces, assessing everything from vigour and resilience to how well they hold up in day‑to‑day garden conditions. The flowers highlighted here stood out for their colour, ease and reliability, making them perfect for filling vases all season long.

Whimsical flat flower heads

Yellowy-cream flowers with finely-cut, greyish-green foliage

All hardy

Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.

Classic border filler

Small, bright yellow flowers are borne in large sprays

The flowers of Alchemilla mollis are as valuable in the vase as they are as border fillers. The chartreuse colouring of the tiny flowers, opening in clouds for many weeks, clashes with nothing and harmonises with everything. Be sure to

Deadheading is the process of removing spent flowers from plants to encourage more blooms and prevent seed production. This helps to redirect the plant's energy into producing more flowers rather than producing seeds.

Long-lasting flowers

Soft pink flowers from June to September

The best astrantias not only come in lovely colours, pastel and dark, but the intriguing shape of their flowerheads repays the close inspection that cut flowers always receive. Astrantia ‘Roma’ is especially prolific and also sterile, so the flowers last unusually well; their rich pink colouring is lovely with old roses. Height can reach 60cm (2ft). Hardiness rating H7.

Shades of peach, apricot and bronze

Peach and apricot shades create a summery look

Chrysanthemum ‘Bronze Elegance’ features double pompon flowerheads ranging from shades of apricot to deep bronze. These flowers thrive in full sun and well-drained soil, and are a great way to brighten up dull gardens. Grows to 70cm in height and 2.5cm across. Hardiness rating H4.

Prominent centres with rich petals

From summer into autumn, these deep red and purple daisy-like flowers bloom

Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Apollo Carmine’ is a half-hardy annual with finely divided green leaves, and from summer into autumn, deep red to purple daisy-like flowers with prominent yellow centres. The flowers grow up to 65cm in height and up to 10cm in diameter. Hardiness rating H3.

Bright red among green

Blade-like leaves and arching stems bearing glowing orange flowers

The vibrant, deep red flowers of Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, standing up along the arching sprays, last very well in water as well as in the garden. The stems can also be left uncut until the seed pods form to make interesting dried winter stems, and I’ve even seen them sprayed gold for Christmas. Height can reach 1.2m (4ft). Hardiness rating H5.

Star–shaped flowers

These flowers bloom from midsummer until the first frosts of winter

Dahlias come in such a vast variety that it’s impossible for even the finest florists to stock all those that appeal. But they’re so easy to grow, and tubers and rooted

A method of growing new plants from parts of an existing plant, such as sections of root, stem, leaf or bud. When prepared correctly and planted in the right conditions, they can produce roots and eventually become independent plants. There is a wide range of different methods for taking cuttings, depending on the plant and time of year.

Unscented flowers

Flowers in the lightest shade of blush pink bring a touch of colour

This is a little bit of a cheat. Lathyrus latifolius ‘Rosa Perle’ is a vigorous and extraordinarily prolific perennial relative of the sweet pea, which is invaluable when mixed with the real thing. Although unscented, the soft pink flowers last far longer than those of annual sweet peas and come with up to fifteen flowers per stem. Height can reach 2m (6ft 6in). Hardiness rating H7.

Dainty and blue

Sky-blue flowers with feathery foliage

Nigella damascena ‘Miss Jekyll’ is a classic cut flower annual, with sky blue flowers and inflated seed pods which are easily dried, and can be allowed to self-sow through beds and borders. Better still, sow it in short rows in late summer to flower the following year – the resulting plants will be far more prolific than spring-sown plants. Height can reach 60cm (2ft). Hardiness rating H7.

Loved by bees and butterflies

Lavender flowerheads open in the summer

Strangely unfashionable, but beautifully coloured, prolific and long lasting, the large, lavender blue flowers of Scabiosa caucasica ‘Clive Greaves’ open on long stems in July and August above greyish foliage. Needs sun and a well-drained soil and is much appreciated by bees and butterflies. Best cut before the central florets open. Young plants are the most prolific, so divide regularly. Height can reach 45cm (18in). Hardiness rating H4.