One of our favourite blue flowers, Blue Boy Bachelor Buttons always adds a country touch to our flower arrangements and bouquets. We love growing them as cut flowers, and we will tell you why!
I’ve long enjoyed the bright blue color of Bachelor Buttons flowers in English country landscapes. Bachelor Buttons, also known as Centaurea Cyanus or cornflowers, are annual flowers with interesting form and texture.They are early spring bloomers that pollinators love!
When starting our flower farm it was important to determine which flowers would be good to grow. I really wanted to know if Bachelor Buttons were good cut flowers. After doing research to determine which flowers would be excellent cut flowers, I was pleased to learn that Bachelor Buttons was one of them. They are not only good cut flowers, but are wonderful accents to put into our farmhouse bouquets for that little punch of blue!
Starting Bachelor Buttons Indoors Is Easy
We start our Bachelor Buttons seeds in March under grow lights. They can also be sown directly outside, however our growing season is short and our weed pressure high, so giving them a head start was important for us.
The seeds were planted in soilless mix and seedling trays, approximately 1/4 inch deep, as the seeds require darkness to germinate. We used a heat mat to aide in the germination.They germinated within several weeks.
The Bachelor Buttons seedlings are planted out in early May when the ground is workable, and are cold hardy so we don’t worry about occasional spring frosts in our area.We plant into landscape fabric for weed suppression, which is helpful for the seedlings to protect them from our enormous weed pressure.
Bachelors Buttons Growing Conditions
From our experience these flowers were very easy to grow and required minimal care. They were planted in a 9” spacing configuration in the landscape fabric, and this seemed to be the best distance apart for their size.
Traditionally they are known to grow in harsher growing conditions and are more tolerant of poor soil with medium fertility. They did not receive irrigation or any special care and did quite well in our garden. We grow in heavy clay soil, and which was fertilized according to our soil sample.The Bachelor Buttons grew well in the clay with no issues or plant loss.
When do Bachelor Buttons Bloom?
The Bachelor Buttons start blooming in mid June for us, and continue to bloom until frost although less abundantly as the season progresses.They are known to be medium producers similar to the cut and come again, with a narrower blooming time.
You can succession plant them if you have a longer growing period for a good supply of blooms throughout the season. Our blooms lasted throughout our shorter growing season, although flowered less towards the end, and then we had a second large flush of flowers in the fall.
Bachelor Buttons Florist Blue Boy
Bachelor Buttons Florist Blue Boy are the cornflowers we have planted at our flower farm over the past several seasons. They are the classic cornflower deep blue color, an intense blue and wonderful accent in our bouquets.
These seeds have reseeded occasionally in our zone 5b garden which is typical of the Bachelor Button habit. I’m always thrilled to discover volunteer plants that pop up close to the original planting area, and use the flowers in our bouquets!
How To Cut Bachelor Buttons
Flowers should be cut before they are fully opened for best vase life. They will continue to open in the vase as long as they are half open when picked.
Harvesting Bachelor Buttons can be somewhat confusing, but once you know the technique it’s a breeze.
Follow the flower stem to the base of the plant and make your cut. Cut off the side branches along the main flower branch, keeping only your main flower stem. If you want you can keep one side shoot, but the main idea is to remove most of the foliage for adequate hydration of the stem and flower.
In Conclusion
Bachelor Buttons will always be part of our cut flower garden. They are great flowers for a zone 5 garden since they prefer our cooler temperatures and are frost tolerant. Their abundant double and semi double blooms make a good choice for cut flowers in our garden, and match our wild flower style.
Perhaps this year we will add another color. I’m thinking about a deep black, Black Button. Stay tuned!
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