Susan Edwards plants a variety of cut flowers each year, some tried and true, some as experiments. “If I don’t like it, I won’t get them again. If I do, I’ll get more,” she said.
Helping others regain strength and motion working as a physical therapist, Susan Edwards uses her idyllic garden for her own rejuvenation.
“I just love it,” she said. “It’s kind of my own therapy. It’s my zen.”
At the end of a long lane to her Centreville home, the Queen Anne’s County Master Gardener designed a serene garden space where she can take plants from seed to flower, cut them for arrangements or simply admire their beauty in the bed.
“I like to be creative,” Edwards said. “I think that’s the main thing about a cut flower garden.”
The symmetrical spot she specially designed contains a lot of the standard options in cut flowers: zinnias, cosmos, snapdragons, celosia, dahlias and hydrangeas, but she also leaves space every year to try new flowers, pairings and ideas she’s found along the way.
“If I don’t like it, I won’t get them again. If I do, I’ll get more,” she said in the most simplistic terms.
But each year, the planning starts well before that.
“I begin by sowing seeds under grow lights in my basement, she explained on her website, inthegardensue.com. “Once they have flourished, I carefully transfer them to my greenhouse, allowing them to thrive for an additional four weeks.
“This meticulous process prepares me for the exciting moment when I finally plant my garden on a grand scale.”
She’s even designed and published multiple garden planners, drawing on years of experience, trial and error.
Heavy landscape fabric, stone pathways and diligent weeding help keep the space pristine and photogenic for Edwards’ social media, sharing the good and bad of a growing season.
This year posts showcasing colorful blooms dominate her feed, but she’s also not afraid in showing wind-damaged dahlias and the need for one more layer of trellis.
“I learned my lesson I guess,” she said in the post.
After past attempts folded under the weight, a new archway fabricated by family gives and extra-sturdy perch for luffa plants to climb.
“It grows really fast and just takes over,” Edwards explained of the plants “My son-in-law and father made this for me and gave it to me for Christmas.”
Family has been the focal point of the garden this year as Edwards planned the garden’s peak bloom to coincide with her daughter’s wedding in June held on the property.
That included flowers in her large patio planters matching the wedding colors and many many flowers cut for decoration and bouquets.
“It was just incredible, and what a beautiful day we had,” she said.
As much as she enjoys growing flowers, she said giving them away brings her more joy.
“When I retire, maybe I’ll do something more like that,” Edwards said. “I just like to give them away and this year I have a lot of give away.”
She’s also an avid seed saver from her own flowers and shares and trades lot of them with fellow gardeners.
“That’s always fun,” she said. “It just saves a lot of money overtime.”
