How to make a Wildflower Bouquet

Fields, up to your belly

Its summer, yay. In southern Germany, the temperatures slowly peak upwards and rise to a comfortable degree.

Last week, I went on a really nice ride into the fields. And I mean into them. My horse is more like a pony hight wise an therefore, my legs stroke through the wildflower fields.

I found one meadow, that was particular beautiful. Just so many different flowers, pink, purple, yellow, green, white. It was a treat to the eyes. Just stunning.

As I rode along, I felt the need to pick some flowers. But this is quit difficult with a horse that just sees tons of mummy green to munch on. That meant, doing it later on the day.

I am not an expert but I want to learn how to keep my flowers alive a decent amount of time.

Pick your Flowers

Like mentioned, I search for them around my area. I came to the conclusion that those meadows around me present not quiet that variation, like the meadow I saw on the ride. But, you gotta take what you get. I mainly found white, blueish purple and yellow shades. Well, I would´t be a super colorful bouquet, more like a white and purple one. But that´s ok, looks like it was intendet. My mom actually told me that the fields we have here are very much influenced by the rhythm of trimming the fields. I you trimm it later in the summer, the plants have actually the chance to throw their seeds into the ground, before they get cut off. Thats also the reason why the field I saw on my ride, has got a  more diverse flower range than mine.

In my head

I had a blurred picture in my mind for the bouquet. I wanted a tall looking one, with longer plants but also some shorter ones. I ended up with those flowers:

Make them last longer

There are a few rules when it comes to picking wildflowers. What I learned: Pick them early in the morning, and cut them with a really sharp knife. After that put them fairly fast into a hand temperature warm water, so there are no air bubbles which may clog the water canal of the plants and can wether a lot faster. Cut them when they are fully grown but didn't start to wether. Remove the bad leaves and pieces of the plants.

Arrange them your way

I started with the longer bits and arranged them more into the middle, so the shorter ones can show up. Picking the grass and than a long flower after the other and finally the shorter ones, lead to a more or less balanced out look.

First Bouquet: Lilac Overflow

Second Bouquet:Muted Mauves