Snapdragon Groups Explained: How to Choose the Right Snapdragons for Cutting

If you’ve ever wondered why one person’s snapdragons are flowering beautifully while yours seem to be sitting there doing absolutely nothing, the answer might not be how you’ve grown them.

It might simply be which snapdragons you’ve chosen to grow.

Snapdragons are not all the same!

Commercial cut-flower snapdragons are divided into numbered groups according to the growing conditions they have been bred to perform best under. Understanding these groups can make a huge difference when you’re choosing varieties — particularly if you want long, florist-worthy stems and flowers over as much of the season as possible.

But the group isn’t the only consideration. Stem length and flower form matter too. Some of the tallest professional cutting varieties have the classic snapdragon flower, while some of the most beautiful double and ruffled varieties are shorter.

So, let’s untangle the whole thing!

What do Snapdragon Groups 1, 2, 3 and 4 actually mean?

Commercial cut-flower snapdragons are divided into numbered groups according to the growing

conditions they have been bred to perform best under.

The three key factors are:

• Day length

• Light intensity

• Temperature

As we move from Group 1 through to Group 4, the varieties are generally adapted to progressively longer days, higher light levels and warmer temperatures.

This matters because snapdragons respond strongly to their growing environment. A variety bred to perform under shorter days and lower light levels won’t necessarily perform in the same way as one bred for the long, bright and warm conditions of summer.

So the group number isn’t simply telling you when a snapdragon flowers. It tells you the conditions that particular variety has been bred to grow and flower successfully in.

And that’s why understanding the groups is so useful when you’re choosing snapdragons for cutting: you can choose the variety to suit the conditions you’re actually going to grow it in.

Group 1 Snapdragons

Group 1 snapdragons are bred for the lowest-light, shortest-day part of the production cycle.

These are the snapdragons used commercially for winter and very early production, particularly where growers are producing flowers undercover. They are adapted to conditions that would be less suitable for the later groups.

For the average UK home cutting garden, Group 1 is probably the group you’re least likely to encounter or need, because we’re not generally trying to commercially produce snapdragons throughout the depths of winter.

However, varieties that span Groups 1–2 can be really useful for those cooler, lower-light periods at either end of the main growing season.

Snapdragons to grow in this group:

Snapstar — Group 1–2

Snapstar spans Groups 1 and 2. It’s a shorter variety at approximately 40cm, but produces beautiful ruffled flowers that are incredibly useful for bouquet work.

Sweet Duet — Groups 1–4

Sweet Duet is our real all-rounder, spanning Groups 1 right through to 4. It’s another shorter variety at approximately 30–40cm, but produces gorgeous double, ruffled flowers.

Think: shorter days + lower light levels + cool-season production.

Group 2 Snapdragons

Group 2 snapdragons are bred for average light intensity and cool to moderate temperatures.

They are commercially useful during the less extreme parts of the growing year and can be used for quality production during spring and autumn, when conditions have moved away from the lowest light levels of Group 1 but we haven’t yet reached the long, bright and warm conditions suited to the later groups.

This makes Group 2 particularly interesting for the UK cutting garden, where we can take advantage of those cooler growing conditions.

Snapdragons to grow in this group:

Avignon — Group 2

Avignon is a professional cutting variety bred specifically for Group 2 conditions. It produces strong stems that can reach approximately 80–100cm, with the classic snapdragon flower form.

If long, florist-worthy stems are your priority during the cooler parts of the growing season, Avignon is exactly the sort of variety to look for.

Snapstar — Group 1–2

Because Snapstar spans Groups 1 and 2, it carries through from the lower-light conditions of Group 1 into the increasing light and cool-to-moderate temperatures associated with Group 2.

Madame Butterfly — Group 2–3

Madame Butterfly bridges Groups 2 and 3. Instead of the classic snapdragon flower, it produces double, azalea-like flowers, giving it that much fuller, ruffled appearance.

Sweet Duet — Groups 1–4

Sweet Duet also performs within Group 2 conditions, giving you a much shorter alternative if your priority is that double, ruffled flower form and gorgeous speckled blooms, rather than maximum stem length.

Think: average light levels + cool to moderate temperatures + spring and autumn production.

Group 3 Snapdragons

Group 3 snapdragons are adapted to increasing light levels, longer days and warmer growing conditions.

As the growing season progresses, the conditions that favour the earlier groups begin to change. Light intensity increases, days become longer and temperatures rise.

Group 3 varieties are bred to perform under these changing conditions and allow commercial growers to continue producing quality stems as they move towards the warmer, brighter part of the season.

Snapdragons to grow in this group:

Potomac — Group 3–4

Potomac is a classic professional cut-flower snapdragon bred for the brighter, warmer growing conditions of Groups 3 and 4.

It produces exceptionally long stems — potentially around 99–152cm depending on growing conditions and without pinching — with the classic snapdragon flower form.

Madame Butterfly — Group 2–3

Madame Butterfly bridges Groups 2 and 3, allowing us to continue growing that beautiful double, ruffled flower form as light levels increase and conditions become warmer.

It can also produce considerably more height than some of the other ruffled varieties, reaching up to (max) approximately 90cm in suitable conditions.

(This is one of the reasons variety choice matters so much. If you’ve been growing snapdragons that reach 30 or 40cm and wondering how flower farmers produce enormous stems, they may simply be growing completely different genetics.)

Sweet Duet — Groups 1–4

Sweet Duet continues through Group 3, giving us another option for warmer, brighter conditions when we want a shorter plant with a double, ruffled flower.

Think: longer days + increasing light levels + warmer growing conditions.

Group 4 Snapdragons

Group 4 snapdragons are bred for periods of high light intensity, long days and warm temperatures.

These are the conditions we encounter at the other end of the production cycle from Group 1.

Where a Group 1 snapdragon is adapted to short days and low light, Group 4 genetics are designed to continue producing quality stems under the much brighter, warmer conditions of the summer growing period.

Choosing varieties suited to these conditions becomes increasingly important because the environment is now very different from the one our earlier groups were bred to perform under.

Snapdragons to grow in this group:

Potomac — Group 3–4

Potomac spans Groups 3 and 4 and is bred to perform under high light intensity, long days and warm temperatures.

Its exceptionally long stems and classic snapdragon flower form make it a brilliant choice when your priority is tall, professional-quality cutting stems during the brighter and warmer part of the season.

Sweet Duet — Groups 1–4

And Sweet Duet makes another appearance because it spans the entire Group 1–4 range.

You won’t get the enormous stem length of Potomac — Sweet Duet grows to approximately 30–40cm — but you do get its beautiful double, ruffled flowers from a much more compact plant.

Think: high light levels + long days + warm-season production.

So which Snapdragon group should I grow?

This is where I wouldn’t necessarily choose just one.

If you want to grow snapdragons over a long flowering season, choosing varieties from different groups makes much more sense than repeatedly growing the same variety and expecting it to perform identically as the seasons change.

The conditions that suit Avignon aren’t identical to the conditions that suit Potomac.

They aren’t simply two snapdragons with different names!

They’ve been bred to do different jobs.

And by understanding that, you can start choosing varieties much more intelligently.

But group isn’t the only thing that matters

This is where we need to talk about flower form.

If my only consideration were producing the longest possible stems, I’d concentrate on professional cutting varieties such as Avignon and Potomac.

But I’m a florist as well as a grower, and I don’t choose flowers purely according to how tall I can make them.

I care about what they’re going to look like in a bouquet.

Avignon and Potomac have the classic snapdragon flower form. They’re beautiful, but they don’t have the highly ruffled, double flowers you get from varieties such as Snapstar, Madame Butterfly and Sweet Duet.

And there isn’t really an equivalent incredibly tall Potomac-style variety that gives me exactly that same ruffled flower form. So there is a compromise.

Does a cut flower really need a metre-long stem?

Absolutely not.

Sweet Duet may only reach approximately 30–40cm and Snapstar around 40cm, but that’s still plenty of usable stem for many bouquets.

If I’m creating a large installation or need very tall stems, I’ll reach for something like Potomac.

If I’m making a hand-tied bouquet and want those gorgeous ruffled flowers, a 30–40cm stem can be perfectly useful.

Madame Butterfly sits somewhere in between, giving us that beautiful double, azalea-like flower while still being capable of producing considerably taller plants.

So when I choose snapdragons for cutting, I’m balancing two things:

Stem length + flower form.

Neither one automatically wins.

A quick guide to the snapdragons to grow:

So which snapdragons should you choose for cutting?

Start by thinking about when you’re going to grow them and the conditions they’re going to experience.

That’s where the groups come in. Then think about what you actually want from the finished flower.

Do you want exceptionally long florist stems?

Do you want beautiful ruffled doubles?

Or, like me, do you want both at different points in the season and for different types of floristry? That’s why I don’t grow just one snapdragon.

I want the long, elegant stems of Avignon and Potomac, but I also want the beautiful double and ruffled flowers of Snapstar, Madame Butterfly and Sweet Duet.

They do different jobs, and that’s exactly the point!

The most important thing to remember

Don’t choose a snapdragon simply because you like the colour on the seed packet.

Choose it according to what you want it to do.

Look at its group to understand the conditions it’s suited to. Look at its potential height if stem length matters to you. And look at its flower form if you’re growing specifically for bouquets.

Once you understand those three things, choosing snapdragons becomes considerably easier — and you’ll have a much better chance of growing the florist-worthy flowers you actually wanted in the first place.