Back to plant library

Cut flower crop

Basil

Ocimum basilicum

WhiteFillerTender annual herb grown from seed for foliage, flowering stems, and scented bouquet material

Productive aromatic foliage crop with fragrant stems for bouquets and floral design.

Basil cut flower

Overview

Why growers use it

Productive aromatic foliage crop with fragrant stems for bouquets and floral design.

Floral use

Design and market fit

Role

Filler

Color notes

Purple, Green, White, Pink

Choose a variety

Varieties worth opening

Basil African Blue cut flower

Basil African Blue

Purple / Foliage, Filler, Accent

African Blue Basil is a large, aromatic, purple-flowered basil that behaves more like a tender perennial pollinator shrub than a normal seed basil. For flower farms it is most valuable as a fresh scented filler with lavender-purple spikes, dark calyces, and local-season personality. It should be planned from rooted cuttings or live plants, not seed, and handled after harvest with basil-safe temperatures rather than standard cold flower storage.

Open variety
Basil Cinnamon cut flower

Basil Cinnamon

Green / Filler

Cinnamon basil is one of the most useful fragrant summer fillers for small flower farms because it grows quickly from seed, branches after pinching, produces generous aromatic stems, and brings a warm herbal scent that ordinary foliage cannot provide. Its glossy green leaves, purple-brown stems, and pink-lavender flower spikes make it more floral and decorative than standard culinary basil. The crop is simple to grow in warm weather, but it is not careless: it needs warm soil, steady water, good airflow, and careful postharvest handling. The biggest planning rule is that basil must be treated as a warm-sensitive herb stem, not as a normal cold-storage cut flower.

Open variety
Basil Clove Basil cut flower

Basil Clove Basil

Green / Filler

Clove Basil is a warm-season, strongly fragrant basil grown for green aromatic foliage, edible herb bunches, pollinator value, and scented bouquet stems. It is most useful for farms that sell locally and can explain its clove-like scent to customers. It should be planted after frost, cut regularly, kept well hydrated, and handled outside the near-freezing flower cooler because basil foliage can blacken when chilled.

Open variety
Basil Dark Opal cut flower

Basil Dark Opal

Purple / Filler

‘Dark Opal’ basil is a fast, warm-season annual herb that gives flower farmers dramatic dark purple foliage, clove-like fragrance, edible bunch potential, and strong contrast in summer bouquet work. It is easy to start from seed, responds well to pinching and repeated cutting, and can produce many small bunches from a compact bed. Its main planning weakness is not production but handling: harvested basil wilts, bruises, blackens under cold storage, and can decay quickly if wet or crushed. Grow it for close-to-harvest sales, subscriptions, restaurants, culinary bunches, and fragrant mixed bouquets rather than for long-distance cold-chain wholesale.

Open variety
Basil Genovese cut flower

Basil Genovese

Green / Filler

Basil is a warm-season annual herb that can also function as a fragrant cut-foliage and filler crop. It is fast from seed, easy to establish when weather is warm, and highly useful for farms that sell local bouquets, edible herb bunches, subscriptions, and farm-to-table flowers. Its strength is fragrance and repeat cutting; its weakness is postharvest sensitivity. Basil should be grown as a quick, local, fresh crop rather than a long-chain refrigerated florist commodity.

Open variety
Basil Holy Basil cut flower

Basil Holy Basil

Green / Filler

Holy Basil is a distinctive tulsi crop for growers who want a scented, edible, pollinator-friendly summer filler. It should be marketed as an aromatic herb foliage and tea/cut-stem crop rather than as a long-stem premium flower. It shines in subscriptions, farmers markets, herbal wedding work, farm dinners, and culinary accounts where fragrance and story matter.

Open variety
Basil Lemon cut flower

Basil Lemon

Green / Filler

Basil is a warm-season annual herb that can also function as a fragrant cut-foliage and filler crop. It is fast from seed, easy to establish when weather is warm, and highly useful for farms that sell local bouquets, edible herb bunches, subscriptions, and farm-to-table flowers. Its strength is fragrance and repeat cutting; its weakness is postharvest sensitivity. Basil should be grown as a quick, local, fresh crop rather than a long-chain refrigerated florist commodity.

Open variety
Basil Lime cut flower

Basil Lime

Green / Filler

Bright green lime-scented basil for fragrant summer bouquets, herb bunches, and edible floral work.

Open variety
Basil Mrs. Burns’ Lemon cut flower

Basil Mrs. Burns’ Lemon

Green / Filler

‘Mrs. Burns’ Lemon’ basil is a warm-season, lemon-scented basil that gives flower farms a useful bridge between culinary herbs and bouquet foliage. It is not grown for dramatic flower colour; it earns its place through fragrance, fresh green texture, edible value, and fast summer production from seed. For local sales, it can make bouquets feel more alive because customers can smell the citrus note before they even notice the foliage. The crop is easy to start and quick to harvest, but it must be handled carefully after cutting because basil wilts in heat and blackens if refrigerated too cold.

Open variety
Basil Purple Ruffles cut flower

Basil Purple Ruffles

Purple / Filler

‘Purple Ruffles’ basil is a warm-season, dark purple, aromatic foliage crop with deeply crinkled leaves that can make summer bouquets feel richer, more edible, and more modern. It is not a long cold-chain florist crop; its value is strongest when grown locally, harvested fresh, and sold quickly into bouquets, herb bunches, farm dinners, and subscriptions.

Open variety
Basil Red Rubin cut flower

Basil Red Rubin

Burgundy / Filler

Red Rubin basil is a warm-season purple basil grown for glossy burgundy foliage, strong basil fragrance, and mauve-lavender flower spikes. For flower farmers it works best as a local, repeat-cut foliage and scented filler crop rather than a commodity cut stem. It brings dark color and edible-herb storytelling to bouquets, but it must be harvested cool, hydrated fast, and kept out of ordinary cold flower storage.

Open variety
Basil Sweet Basil cut flower

Basil Sweet Basil

Green / Filler

Sweet basil is a fast, warm-season annual herb that can give flower farmers an aromatic green foliage crop, edible bunch crop, and useful herb bouquet ingredient through the summer. It is easy to start from seed, responds well to pinching and repeated cutting, and can produce many small bunches from a compact bed. Its main planning weakness is not production but handling: harvested basil wilts, bruises, blackens under cold storage, and can decay quickly if wet or crushed. Grow it for close-to-harvest sales, subscriptions, restaurants, and fragrant mixed bouquets rather than for long-distance cold-chain wholesale.

Open variety

Plan with Flower Farm Planner

Full planning data inside Flower Farm Planner

The planner includes crop spacing, sowing dates, yield estimates, harvest handling, pricing, profit, and planning tools.

Sowing and propagation
Germination temperature
Spacing and bed planning
Crop timing
Succession planning
Stem yield estimates
Harvest stage
Post-harvest handling
Pricing and profit
Start free trial