Flowers For in the House

 I like flowers. But I've never really had them in my house on a regular basis. We're just not 'buy flowers' people.  I can count on one finger how many times DH has bought me (cut) flowers in our 30 years of marriage.  I can count on one hand how many times, in that 30 years, that I've bought myself (cut) flowers.

Last year I started thinking that I'd like to have a vase of flowers in my house on a fairly regular basis during the summer time.  Not year round, just the summer time, because that meant I could get my bouquets for next to nothing by growing them myself.

This year I consciously planted a few types of flowers that make good cut flowers.  I also tried to be more aware of what I all ready had growing around this little place here that could be cut and brought inside.

Like the peonies that have bloomed reliably for 20 years (funny thing; I brought the crowns with me from our previous house when we built this little place here.  Those peonies had rarely bloomed at the other house in the 7 years we owned it--they came with the house.  Didn't like the amount of sun--or lack of it--there I guess.)

There are also tulips and daffodils that, planted years ago, come up annually.  Well, the daffodils do.  The tulips have been decreasing in recent years; probably because the deer have gotten bolder and actually come up right by the house and eat the tulips down to the ground as soon as they send up buds.  Doesn't leave much greenery to feed the bulbs for the following year.

Then there's the miscellaneous perennials I've tried to get established out at the rock wall between the lawn and the garden.  This year I was able to make a couple bouquets out of bee balm, prairie coneflower, brown eyed Susan's (I know they're black-eyed, but my grandma was a Susan who had brown eyes, so my family has always called they brown eyed), daylily, plus some Queen Anne's lace, volunteer sunflowers and the earliest zinnias.

Last year I ordered some dahlia tubers from a fundraiser a friend of mine was participating in.  They're a little higher maintenance than my other flowers, having to be lifted in the Fall and replanted in the Spring, but not too terribly difficult to grow.  And I do like the big blooms they have!

I bought a packet of zinnia seeds and a packet of cosmos seeds and planted them in a couple of spots in the garden.  Not only do they attract lots of pollinators (good for the veggie yield), they also bloom for months until a hard frost kills them.

This summer I've been cutting bouquets of zinnia and cosmos weekly, as well as inviting family members to cut their own bouquet to take home when they are here visiting.  They've been a big hit.  DH has even mentioned planting a wide swath of them on the edge of the field, out near the road, in the future.  And he's not a flower kind of person!

We had a good, hard frost here on Sunday night, so now the flowers are done until next year (except the hardy mums, but I don't use those for cut flowers).  Looking forward to more 'free' bouquets to beautify my house next summer.