Don’t get me wrong I do like flowers.  They can look really beautiful displayed in a vase, however I just don’t see any need to buy them from a shop, when they are so readily available in my back garden.  

My husband knows my feelings about flowers and the other day completely unprompted he went and picked some from the garden and made a rather beautiful flower arrangement in our kitchen as pictured – aren’t they lovely!  I don’t know why we hadn’t done it sooner to be honest, sometimes I just forget that we can cut a few flowers and bring them inside…

Have you picked and displayed any flowers from your garden recently? Would you give home picked flowers as a gift?

Several months ago I decided there would be no more shop bought flowers in my life.  Aside from the fact that they aren’t very eco-friendly (often being transported long distances in refridgerated lorries) and that they cost money, there is a free and abundant source of flowers in my back garden.

From spring to early autumn there are always flowers to be found in my garden, daffodils, roses, flowering bushes, wildflowers, flowering herbs and flowering weeds (if that is any different to wildflowers). 

The flowers I bring into my house don’t need to be huge statement flowers to be beautiful and uplifting.  They don’t need to last for two weeks or be of a uniform type or size either.  The variety in my back garden is exciting and unique.  Not many people have vases filled with curry plant leaves and flowers, or carrot tops and flowering weeds.   

I get to spend time wandering around my garden and to appreciate it for what it is rather than stressing that there are weeds growing in the wrong places.  It is also great fun learning how to arrange something that would usually be ignored or disregarded into a beautiful flower arrangement or several in your home!