- 3 Easy, Reliable, Productive Cut Flowers: Sunflowers, Zinnias & Rudbeckia
- 5 Factors That Determine Vase Life of Cut Flowers
- 2019 American Flowers Week: Combining the Art of Floral Design & Couture
- Celebrate the 7th American Flowers Week | Johnny's 2021 Botanical Couture
- Celebrating the 8th American Flowers Week | Johnny's 2022 Botanical Couture
- Collective Selling Models for Flower Farmers: Flower Hubs That Work
- 5 Cool Flowers to Plant Now | Lisa Mason Ziegler's Secrets for Growing Hardy, Cool-Season Annuals
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- Cut-Flower Kit | Guide for Market Growers (PDF)
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- Flower Culture by Crop | Comparison Chart | Days to Germination, Weeks to Transplant, Days to Harvest (PDF)
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- Getting Started in Cut-Flowers | Top 15 Cuts
- Heat & Drought: How Flower Farmers Are Adapting to Changing & Challenging Climatic Conditions
- Introduction to Overwintering Flowers | Guide to Overwintering Flowers
- An Introduction to Producer Marketing Cooperatives | M Lund & Associates
- How Day Length Affects Cut-Flower Production
- Flower Power for Roadside Markets
- Growing Flowers in Hoophouses & High Tunnels: Cool-Weather & Hot-Weather Options
- Tips for Starting a U-Pick Flower Operation
- Year-Round Flower Production Strategy
- Overwinter Flower Trials | Multiyear Results for 30+ Crops | Johnny's Selected Seeds | XLSX
- Seeding Date Calculator | Johnny's Recommended Flowers for Overwintering | XLSX
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- When to Start Seeds for Overwintered Flowers | Guide to Overwintering Flowers
Choosing Flower Crops to Overwinter: Results from Our Trials
Snapdragons in a high tunnel on the Johnny's Research Farm.
By Hillary Alger, Flower Product Manager, and Joy Longfellow, Flower Trial Technician, Johnny's Selected Seeds
We have conducted extensive multi-year overwinter flower trials in unheated high tunnels at our Zone 5a Research Farm in Central Maine. Here is a compendium of our trial results by crop, including our top 6 crops for beginners and a comprehensive review of all crops we have trialed.
Top 6 Flowers for Overwintering in Tunnels
If you are new to overwintering, we recommend starting with one or more of our Top 6 Flowers for Overwintering in Tunnels:
These 6 cut-flower crops have consistently performed well in our overwinter trials. They have proven the most reliable for survivability, high stem quality, productivity, and earliness, compared to field plantings. If you are new to overwintering flowers, refer to our Introduction to Overwintering Flowers for an overview of our overwintering methodology.
Over 30 Flower Crops to Overwinter
Download our Overwinter Flower Trials • Results by Crop for details on over 30 flower crops we overwinter here on our Zone 5a Research Farm in Maine.
As you look to expand beyond our top 6, start your crop exploration with a review of our Overwinter Flower Trials • Results by Crop, a downloadable spreadsheet that you can save to your system and put to work for your own planning and recordkeeping purposes. The workbook details over 30 flower crops we overwinter in unheated tunnels here on our Northern-Tier Farm in Maine and it includes a wealth of information on:
- Seeding and transplanting dates
- Survival rates
- Bloom window
- Harvest window
- Yield
- Recommended varieties
- Pros, cons, and growing notes
Extensive note-taking on the results of the winter tunnel flower production starts early and keeps going, ending one year's cycle while beginning the next. Once you are past the summer solstice, it's already time to plan for the upcoming overwinter flower production, and in swift progression it's time to start seeds, prep the tunnel, then transplant seedlings into the tunnel. Making time for good recordkeeping pays off by helping you assess and weigh economic considerations in relation to your production system and markets, make sound choices, and achieve optimal results.
Performance Recap: Flower Crops from Our Trials
Here is a detailed recap of our best-performers in our overwinter flower trials. Click on each crop to watch a video about overwintering the crop and see it in bloom in the high tunnel.
- Agrostemma: excellent winter survival rate and makes an excellent, vigorous, and tall early-season filler flower.
- Ammi/Daucus: strong, tall, straight, sturdy stems and larger blooms than from field plantings.
- Bells of Ireland: a 100% winter survival rate for us with extremely tall, thick, sturdy stems.
- Bupleurum: much taller plants than a field planting; a great option for spring bouquet fillers.
- Campanula: overwintering is a good option for this daylength-sensitive crop, which requires short days to put on stem length before longer days trigger flowering.
- Cynoglossum: very good survival rate in our tunnel, with tall, sturdy stems.
- Dianthus (Carnation): the Sweet™ Series are one of the earliest blooming plants for us in the spring. The Amazon Series and Chabaud Series are a bit later and do equally well in the tunnel.
- Digitalis (Foxglove): both first-year flowering and biennial flowering Digitalis work well in our overwintering tunnel.
- Eucalyptus: we had 100% survival rate with both 'Silver Drop'and 'Silver Dollar', with the plants growing to 8' high by the middle of July.
- Icelandic Poppies: the vigor and resilience of these crops are excellent; they thrive in late winter and early spring and out-perform early-spring plantings.
- Larkspur: we especially recommend the Galilee and the QIS™ Series.
- Lupine: we have overwintered both first-year flowering and perennial lupine and both have overwintered very nicely, with 100% survival rates.
- Matricaria (Tanacetum/Feverfew): versatile range of blooms on an extremely vigorous and productive plant.
- Nigella: lush plantings for an excellent filler-flower option.
- Orlaya: produces sturdy, tall stems; a very nice filler variety.
- Persian Cress: sturdy, productive, airy filler with interesting shimmery seed pods.
- Rudbeckia: bright, cheerful, dramatic addition to early summer bouquets. Large blooms on strong, sturdy stems.
- Saponoria: adds diversity and interest to early-season bouquets.
- Scabiosa: excellent performance in overwinter tunnel with 100% survival rates in our trials.
- Snapdragon: consistently performs very well for us with 100% survival rate.
- Stock: does not overwinter well for us in Zone 5a, but performs well in late-winter tunnel plantings.
- Sweet Peas: an excellent crop for the overwintered tunnel that requires a strong support system.
- Tulips: we extend our season by 3–4 weeks by planting in the tunnel and have had success with Darwin Hybrids, double-early, and double-late, parrots, and single-blooming varieties.
- Viola (Pansy): the plants will stay compact and bushy through the winter (making good harvests for edible flowers), then elongate quickly as the days lengthen, producing longer stems ideal for cutting.
Learn More
- View all of our flower varieties that are good for overwintering
- Introduction to Overwintering Flowers: Methods & Recommendations from Johnny's Multiyear Trials
- When to Start Seeds for Overwintered Flowers
- Overwintering Flowers Webinar • How to extend your growing season with cold-hardy annuals • COMPREHENSIVE RESOURCES
- Overwinter Flower Trials • Results by Crop • XLSX
- Overwinter Flower Trials • Seeding Date Calculator • XLSX
- U.S. Hardiness Zones • MAP