Do you suppose she is a wildflower?

Is there a lovelier way to spend a Summers afternoon picking your own flowers from a local garden? 

I think not.

I have been visiting this PYO garden for a few years now, its local to me and they have the most wonderful variety of flowers and to fill a bucket of your cuttings to take home with you costs a fraction of what it would be from a shop. 

Plus it keeps fuel omissions down which is good for the planet, yey!

I tend to choose dahlias and then a selection of long stemmed flowers so that it adds some height to when I place them in a vase at home. I like it to look a little wild and not too 'manicured'.

I find that keeping the water fresh and adding some sugar keeps the flowers looking their best for longer. Some people use a dash of bleach in the water to keep bacteria at bay and I swear someone told me that they used lemonade! 

Do you have any tricks for keeping your flowers healthy? Trimming stems, bashing stems is meant to help with the water going through the stems. I wish I knew more about flowers, they fascinate me.

Before the flowers start to look past their best, I took some to dry out and press as I want to make some cards and also want to put some in glass frames at home. 

So cottage core, I love it!