I plan to write an entire post about cut flowers and what I’ve learned thus far in my short two years of doing a cut flower garden. But for now, I just wanted to share some of this year’s blooms. I absolutely love my cut flower section of my garden. It’s brought me a lot of joy and I’ve really been able to slow down and use my creativity in a different way this summer.

This year, I expanded into a bigger area, especially for the sunflowers and boy, were they ever so beautiful. I did four different varieties, and I think the new strawberry addition was my favorite.

My Grand helped me start all of these sunflowers from seeds. We even had to start most of these twice and got them in the ground about two weeks later than I wanted because we lost the first crop.

I started offering local pick up on mason jar bouquets the first week of June and I was really surprised at how many people wanted some each week. It’s the second week of September and I’m still bringing a few bouquets a week to town. I love being able to share them with others.

I tried my hand at a couple new varieties of Zinnas as well this spring and have learned a lot about my soil, pest control, and what works best in my raised beds vs. directly sowed into our garden. Next year I plan to work more on some new filler options but I think the crowd favorite was basil and eucalyptus this summer. I also planted celosia but I just am a sucker for the fragrance of basil.

The dogs go with me to water and harvest each night. The girls help me make bouquets and deliver. I ended up finding the cutest milk crate metal basket at an antique store that works perfect for transporting multiple jars to town. Each time we hit up a thrift store, I’m always keeping an eye out for cute vessels. Last year, I sort of made the cowboy boot vase my thing, so be on the lookout for some cute branding regarding that next spring. I have some fun plans in the works to add to what we do on our ranch.

Like I said, I will make a post on how I started and more in depth of what I did/do what I learned, and more closer to spring! I am saving my seeds and will have some up for grabs. My wheels have been spinning on ways we can utilize the land more beyond cattle, hay, garden, etc. But for now, I just wanted to share some pretty flowers and an small update of what I’ve been up to other than hay this summer.