Some flowers are a cut above the rest

I remember exactly the time and place when I had my first glimpse of a real cutting-flower garden. I was 19, driving by myself in unfamiliar territory on the eastern end of Long Island, N.Y. My new husband and I were visiting his married sister in Westhampton for a long summer weekend, and I, curious to see the beautiful seaside towns, drove to the village of East Hampton.

I found myself meandering down a wide, London plane tree-lined avenue called Lily Pond Lane. Toward the end of the lane was a sight the likes of which I had never seen. Behind a short, pristinely pruned privet hedge was an immaculate flower garden — straight rows of asters, delphinium, dahlias, phlox, zinnias, gladioli, stock, lilies, marigolds, daisies, snapdragons, cosmos, Queen Anne's lace and even hydrangeas. They were all upright, blooming, ready to be cut and arranged for the large rooms in the tile-roofed mansion across the street.

I stopped the car and took mental notes of everything I was staring at. I saw that there was a substantial greenhouse tucked in behind a much taller privet, where the annuals were propagated before being set out in the garden, an immense serpentine perennial border backed by a yew hedge, as well as a modest split-rail fence covered in pink climbing roses. I vowed, then and there, to have a cutting-flower garden someday so that I, too, could have fresh flowers growing all season long.

I did honor my vow and planted a cutting garden at Turkey Hill, my home in Westport, Conn., filling it with bulbs for spring and summer bloom, and experimenting every year with different annuals for cutting and flower arranging.

My favorite cutting flowers are not really surprising. Many are old standbys that I saw so many years ago on Lily Pond Lane or were inspired by Mrs. Vincent Astor's garden in Northeast Harbor, Maine: China asters (Callistephus chinensis), tall, plump snapdragons (Antirrhinum), astilbe, columbine (Aquilegia "McKana" hybrids), Canterbury bells (Campanula "Cup and Saucer"), calendula, coleus, cosmos, towering delphinium ("Pacific Giants"), carnations (Dianthus), foxglove (Digitalis "Excelsior Hybrids"), larkspur, nasturtiums, lavender "Hidcote," big-flowered African marigolds, scabiosa, rudbeckia, stock, sweet peas, lupines, amaranthus "Love Lies Bleeding" and, of course, zinnias.

I have added quite a few things to my garden on Mount Desert Island, Maine, which is essentially a cutting garden. There, I love the green bells of Ireland, the Ammi majus flowers with giant heads like Queen Anne's lace, dinner plate dahlias, Echinops, Eryngium and extra-tall ageratum.