Hi Arjen,

I can't help out too much, but I wanted to say hi... and that I'm jealous, lol! 700 peonies! Wow! As you can probably tell, I'm a small grower, and new - only three years so far, which is why I can't help much with your questions.

This forum runs kind of hot and cold as far as posting activity, but hopefully someone will check in to help you out. In the meantime, welcome and best of luck with your cut flowers!

:)
Dee

I think that you may find the book, The Flower Farmer quite helpful (link below). Another very good book is Specialty Cut Flowers by Allan Armitage.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Flower Farmer book

Arjen, your peonies won't bloom for a year to three depending on type and location (they take a while after you move them). Hollyhocks do OK for about 3 to 5 days. Columbine about the same maybe a little shorter (that is why you don't see them in a shop). Read the book mentioned above, subscribe to grow for market, visit some growers nearby. England would be very different from my zone 5, but I can send you my list if you want.

Good luck.

Bryan

Arjen,
I live on the North Oregon Coast and grow a lot of columbine for one reason I love it. It comes in so many different colors and shapes. I deal with a florist that in the beginning did not want anything to do with columbine because it shattered too easy is what she'd been told are was sold some that was too old. I pick mine the day she wants it and put it straight away in floral preserve. I sell her varieties specific for cut flowers ie.. Origami, Nora Barolw, McKana Hybrids are some I know make good cut flowers. It blooms right at Mother's Day here in the US, not sure you have the same holiday, second week in May. It looks adorable in flower arrangements, not so good in bouquets. The only thing with columbine the attract the aphids like crazy, start spraying with a good organic spray for aphids way early. This flower can be a hard sell. As for hollyhocks I scraped all mine I always got rust, then you have to treat them with something and there goes trying to be organic. Grow dahlias and lots of them, dahlias are beautiful and you can grow them organically just fine I do. Good Luck, Kathleen

Hello Arjen,

I just have a couple of suggestion to add to the advice you have already received. Bookmark the link below in your Favorites. I visit this blog often. Very, very often. Jane previously posted here on the GardenWeb. She is a very talented lady who resides in Drymen; and, markets in Glasgow. Love her style which is much the style also of Sarah Raven.

Sarah Raven: This knowledge and enthusiasm is present in all her books, her first The Cutting Garden (1996) won the Garden Writers� Guild Award for Best Specialist Gardening book, �The Bold and Brilliant Garden (1999) offers a new approach to planning and planting a garden for sumptuous colour and scent and Grow Your Own Flowers (2002) which is an in-depth guide to growing and arranging your own flowers at home. Sarah�s new book Sarah Raven�s Garden Cookbook is published by Bloomsbury in June 2007.

Sarah is an inspirational and passionate teacher, running cooking, flower arranging and gardening courses at the school she set up in 1999 at her farm in East Sussex. Her mail order company, Sarah Raven�s Kitchen and Garden, sells seeds, bulbs, books and her favorite things for the kitchen and garden. Sarah is a presenter on BBC Gardeners� World, she writes for The Daily Telegraph, Country Living Magazine, Gardeners� World Magazine, Domino Magazine (US) and has been a guest on BBC Radio 4�s Woman�s Hour and The Food Program.

Sarah is married to the writer Adam Nicolson and has two daughters and three stepsons. They live at Perch Hill Farm in East Sussex. Her website is: http://www.sarahraven.com

We own two of her books. I think my favorite is Grow Your Own Cut Flowers. Beautiful detail. Beautiful pictures. We love her bright and bold style.

Warmest Regards,

Trish

Here is a link that might be useful: Snapdragon's Garden

Thanks everyone for the advice. Yes I bought all the staples: Armitage, Byzcynski, Sturdivant; and some Dutch books as well since I'm Dutch by birth.
My sweet peas are just coming up - I've got a small heated greenhouse as well as a slightly bigger unheated one (couple of panes missing so it's well vented ;)). Just planted some snapdragons out today; some Rocket mix and some Butterfly Mix - see what they'll do.
I spent a 45kg bottle of gas in 10 days in December! Is that normal...?? The second bottel is lastinglonger now,also because I turned down the thermostat, but at 10-12C average nothing came up so I turned it up again now...
Anyway the hollyhocks seemed to verymuch dislike the cold and quite a few have succumbed to something that looks like black leg (pythium?). Plenty left over but it's nt really nice. Got a first year flowering low variety Fiesta Time from Thompson & Morgan - quite curious what they will do... The Chaters will need another year I suppose, although they got plenty of cold now but if that counts as enough vernalisation???
Anyway, the columbines got sown - some Origami in October already, they look quiet happy actually. I just set up a small website for my place, see below. It's just the beginning but I plan to add pictures of the garden over the season.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wealden Flowers

Forgot to ask. Do you subscribe to Growing for Market? We wrote the article in the September 2007 edition: Dahlias all summer -- Growing dahlias: 'These are your money makers' And, to think we actually got paid to do this!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing for Market Subscription Link