Irish grown
Irish flowers in season: a month-by-month calendar
What Irish growers genuinely cut in each month, January to December, in one table: snowdrops in January, peonies in June, dahlias to the first frost.
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The Irish cut flower year has a shape that no amount of tunnel heating really changes: nothing much until February, a slow build through spring, a long generous run from May to October, and then a long stop. Anyone buying Irish-grown works inside that, and the growers themselves will be the first to tell you so.
What follows is what is genuinely being cut on Irish farms in each month, not what is on sale in Irish shops. Those are two very different lists, because about 95 percent of what is sold here is imported.
The calendar
| Month | Flowers | Also cut |
|---|---|---|
| January | Snowdrops, hellebores, forced hyacinths and paperwhites | Ivy, eucalyptus, willow, catkins, dogwood stems, dried flowers |
| February | Snowdrops, hellebores, early daffodils, anemones | Catkins, pussy willow, forced branches |
| March | Daffodils and narcissi at peak, anemones, hyacinths | Blossom branches, forced ranunculus in tunnels |
| April | Daffodils to the end of the month, tulips, ranunculus, wallflowers | Cherry and crab apple blossom, forget-me-not, budding foliage |
| May | Tulips to mid-month, peonies from late May, alliums, aquilegia, sweet william | Lilac, viburnum, cow parsley, first foliage |
| June | Peonies, sweet pea from early June, foxgloves, lupins, garden roses, ammi | Alchemilla, grasses, first dahlias in a warm year |
| July | Sweet pea, garden roses, cornflowers, larkspur, scabious, snapdragons, dahlias from mid-month | Ammi, dill, grasses, calendula |
| August | Dahlias, sweet pea, zinnias, sunflowers, gladioli, hydrangeas, phlox, amaranthus | Grasses, seedheads, rudbeckia |
| September | Dahlias at peak, sweet pea to early September, hydrangeas, asters, chrysanthemums | Nigella pods, poppy seedheads, ripening berries |
| October | Dahlias to the first frost, chrysanthemums, late hydrangea heads | Rosehips, crab apples, autumn foliage, dried flowers |
| November | Chrysanthemums under cover, very little else | Berried branches, seedheads, foliage, dried flowers |
| December | Forced hyacinths and paperwhites | Holly, ivy, spruce, eucalyptus, berries, dried flowers |
The four seasons of an Irish flower farm
Almost nothing, November to January. This is the truthful headline and most sites will not print it. Irish growers spend these months planting, mulching, mending tunnels and selling what they dried in August. What they can offer is foliage, berried branches, seedheads and dried flowers, plus forced bulbs grown in the dark and brought on in a shed. A Christmas wreath from an Irish farm is a real Irish product, made from Irish material. A bunch of December roses is not.
The one genuine flower at the very start of the year is the snowdrop, from January, followed by hellebores. Both are small, both are sold in small quantities, and neither will fill a large vase. They are worth buying anyway.
The bulb months, February to April. Daffodils and narcissi are the one flower Ireland grows commercially at real scale, and from late February through April they are genuinely everywhere and genuinely cheap. Mother's Day in Ireland falls three weeks before Easter, which puts it reliably inside the Irish daffodil season, and that is one of the few occasions in the year where the Irish option is also the obvious one. Tulips follow from April, mostly from tunnels, running into early May.
Note the practical point for a vase: daffodils leak a sap that shortens other flowers, so give them an hour alone in water after cutting and then arrange them without a second cut.
The main run, May to October. This is the season proper. It opens with peonies in late May, and the Irish peony window is about four weeks long, sometimes six. Sweet pea starts in June and, if it is picked constantly, runs to early September; it is the flower Irish growers are most attached to and the one with the shortest vase life on the farm, four or five days, which is exactly why it never travels and almost never appears in a shop that buys from the auctions.
June and July bring the annuals: cornflower, larkspur, ammi, scabious, snapdragon, calendula, along with garden roses that smell like roses and last a few days less than the imported kind. From mid-July the dahlias start and they do not stop until frost. August adds zinnias, sunflowers, gladioli and hydrangeas.
The long autumn, September to October. Dahlias peak in September and carry the farms through October. Chrysanthemums come in from September and are the last real flower standing. Hydrangea heads cut late in October are the best value on any Irish farm, because they will dry in the vase and keep going for years.
The season does not fade; it stops. The first proper frost finishes dahlias in a night, and growers cut everything they can in the fortnight before a frost is forecast. If you want dahlias, buy them in the second half of October rather than waiting.
Using the calendar for a wedding
Work the other way round from how most people do it. Pick the month first, then choose from what that month actually produces, rather than picking a flower in January and asking an Irish grower to produce it in April.
A June wedding gets peonies, sweet pea, foxgloves, garden roses and alliums, which is close to the best month in the Irish year. An August or September wedding gets dahlias in every colour there is, which is why so many Irish growers steer autumn couples that way. A February wedding gets daffodils, hellebores, anemones and a lot of foliage, and an Irish grower will say plainly that the rest will have to be bought in.
That conversation is normal, and it is the main reason to talk to a grower early. A wedding priced around an Irish season is usually cheaper than the same wedding priced around imported flowers, because the grower is selling you what is standing in the field that week. Irish flower farms covers how that side of it works, including DIY buckets.
A note on labels
There is no protected mark for Irish-grown cut flowers and no requirement to state origin at point of sale. A bunch wrapped in green and white is not evidence of anything. The only reliable checks are asking a florist directly, buying at a market from the person who cut them, or buying from the farm.
Questions people ask
When are Irish peonies in season?
What is in season in Ireland in December?
When do Irish daffodils start?
How long do Irish dahlias last in the season?
Is there an Irish rose season?
Read next
- Irish-grown flowers: what it means and where to buyAbout 95 percent of cut flowers sold here are imported. What Irish-grown buys you, what it costs you in price and season, and the four ways to get some.
- Irish flower farms: what they grow and how to find oneOver 100 growers now sell direct across Ireland, from half-acre cutting gardens to twelve-acre farms. What they offer, DIY buckets, and the county finder.
- Peonies: the six-week Irish season, meaning and carePeonies are worth the price for about six weeks a year and overpriced for the other forty-six. When they are in, what they mean, and how to open a tight bud.
- Tulips: season in Ireland, meaning and vase careTulips keep growing after you cut them, bend towards the light and hate deep water. The Irish season, what the colours mean, and how to keep them upright.