How To Get Joanna Gaines' Look For A Stunning Cut Flower Garden Bouquet

The gardens of HGTV star Joanna Gaines are the stuff of dreams. She has rows and rows of gorgeous blooms, from the spring ranunculus she took a risk on to the stunning sweet peas that perfume her yard. Gaines doesn't just grow these blooms to beautify her yard though. She uses the patch as a test garden for the following season and often makes bouquets from the flowers to enjoy indoors as well. When visiting with Good Morning America's Lori Bergamotto, Gaines showed how to make a bouquet with some of the flowers from her garden including orlaya, foxglove, and snapdragon.

All three flowers are relatively beginner friendly, but they do take some time to mature. This means you'll have to plan ahead a bit if you want to be able to pick them from your own garden for spring bouquet making. Foxglove is a biennial, however, if you plant annual foxglove in autumn, it should be ready to be included in bouquets by the next spring. Foxglove plants are extremely poisonous though, so be sure to grow them where children and pets won't have access. Orlaya also benefits from fall sowing in many regions. Snapdragons are hardy in USDA Hardiness Zones 7 and higher, so gardeners in warmer regions can start it in the fall, too. But if you live in zone 6 or colder, you should wait until early spring to plant your snapdragon seeds.

Orlaya and foxglove seeds are best direct sowed into your garden. Be sure the seeds have good contact with the soil, but don't bury them, as they need light to germinate well. On the other hand, snapdragon seeds should generally be started inside and then transplanted out. They too need to be surface sowed because they also require light for good germination.

Make sure to plant your foxgloves and snapdragons in rich and moist soil in the garden. The orlaya, however, is more drought tolerant and should be able to handle drier conditions once it is established. Grow your orlayas in full sun, while your snaps and foxgloves should be able to thrive in part or full sun.

You'll know your orlaya is ready to harvest when around 80% of the tiny flowers that make up each umbel have opened. For your snapdragons, you can harvest them when the bottom few blooms on the flower stalk have opened. This is also the best point to harvest foxgloves since they quickly turn brown after being pollinated. If harvested at the right time, your orlayas, snapdragons, and foxgloves should last in the vase for a week or more. Gaines suggests cutting the stems to different sizes when arranging them in the vase. This creates a more natural look that mimics how the flowers grow in the garden.