top of page

SHARING SECRETS: Cut Flowers or Potted Plants?


Photo by Cathy Tylka.

Edited by Christina Ivany.


Which of these do you give more often as a gift:  cut flowers or potted flowers/plants? 


Cathy Tylka (Escondido): I love them both and try to have whatever is blooming in my yard, cut in a vase in my home. But the potted plants are my favorite, because they last longer. And sometimes, I get to have the potted plants bloom outside.


Photo by Cathy Tylka.

Linda Chisari: Cut flowers! Sweet Peas in Winter/Spring, Zinnias in Summer/Fall, Alstroemerias all year long to supplement the other flowers. All grow prolifically in my raised beds, among the vegetables.


Charlotte Getz (92024): I give potted flowers or plants. I choose seasonal items to give. For holiday gifts: amaryllis bulbs, paper whites, cyclamen and a backfill of greenery from my yard. Pittosporum leaves, camellia leaves and variegated duranta branches often are good fillers.


Darlene Rogers: I enjoy cut flowers because they are so varied. You can pick and choose and create with each bouquet. I prefer a circular arrangement so displays well from all angles.


Madhuri Jarwala: Flowers from my garden. My friends love them and I feel lucky to be able to give little bouquets for their birthdays.


Jodie Cavanagh: Cut flowers have a short life; I prefer to give and receive a potted plant because of its longevity.


Melissa Johnson: Cut flowers. Most of my friends/family would kill the potted plant . . .


Barbara Emont: Potted flowers create a sense of possibility and transformation, an anticipation of a greater moment in time.


Robin Rivet: The gift that keeps giving is always the best. My favorite was a potted freesia with an intense rosy-red color and potent fragrance. It’s been ten years now since someone gifted it to me as a birthday present, and it still pops up every spring.


Marilyn Wilson is a "cut-flower girl." I take bouquets of flowers from my garden to my doctor's office, the dentist, lunch with a friend, and several neighbors on my block.  I also order flowers sent to my sister who lives in the mid-west.


Linda Canada: Potted plants - sometimes I create a little succulent garden from plants I'm already growing.


Linda Jones: Cut flowers! I love the mixture of colors, shapes, textures you can get with cut flowers.


Karen Stanford (91976): Potted plants or cuttings. Only my other half and the tortoise get flowers cut from my yard.


Ann Goran: Potted flowers or plants.


Barbara Dunn (92078): Potted plants, they last longer.


Cindy Bruecks (92107): Funny, I essentially never give cut flowers as a gift, unless they come from my own cutting garden. I feel it's wasteful, and the blooms generally look best on the plant. I give potted plants often, whenever I think the recipient would enjoy/appreciate them. I am careful not to terrorize my brown-thumbed colleagues who would be totally intimidated by something they have to "take care of".

Comments


  

Our Mission  To inspire and educate the people of San Diego County to grow and enjoy plants, and to create beautiful, environmentally responsible gardens and landscapes.

 

Our Vision   To champion regionally appropriate horticulture in San Diego County.

  • Facebook Social Icon

© 2025 San Diego Horticultural Society

bottom of page