Flower Power

Flowers have been on my mind a lot lately.

I've been gardening long enough to learn that it's one thing to feed your belly but it's another thing to feed your soul.

And flowers do that don't they? 

I can look at a bouquet of flowers on someones desk and just feel the tension go out of me.  I love to see flowers inside the house or office.  Just LOVE it.  But I'm too cheap to buy them for myself.  Cut flowers are freaking expensive!  (I tried bringing in some cut crepe myrtle blooms once.  What a mess!)

And while I do have some flowers outside the house, the majority of those are annuals like Petunias and Geraniums and Knock-Out Roses.  They look nice but "Hey" they're still outside!  So I started thinking that maybe I should start to grow flowers that I can cut and bring INSIDE the house.

Perhaps it's just the natural order of things when you start to garden. 

You start off small.  One day you're playing in the dirt with a couple of tomato plants and some zucchini and then the next thing you know, you're planting fruit trees.  Then you want to expand your garden because it's not just a hobby now.  This stuff tastes good.  Real good.  Better than good, in fact it tastes SO good you want to expand your garden so you can grow more of this great stuff.

But then you notice that not every bit of dirt is occupied 24-7.  There are seasons for certain things.  Some of your plants failed to thrive and you're left looking at a sad little patch of dirt just crying out for some roots to call it home.

And also because you're a girl.  Let's face it.  Girls like things pretty.  And while a garden starts off looking pretty with all these neat little rows and baby plants and not a weed in sight, well...It doesn't stay that way does it?

Like a teenager with a bad case of acne, my garden is looking quite frightening right now.  Grass and weeds everywhere!

Except for one little 3x4 foot patch where I planted my first flowers.

That's right!  This Spring I planted some Dahlia bulbs in the garden.  I'd been thinking that I'd like to add more flowers to the garden to attract more bees.  I always have marigolds in the garden.  So easy to grow and they look good too but I wanted to try something else so when I spotted the Dahlia bulbs I said "what the heck" and tossed them into my shopping cart.

Now I know nothing about growing Dahlias.  Most of them are flopped over and laying on the ground.  I walked past some this morning and thought "What the heck are you doing, Tami?  You're always wanting flowers for the house and these are just laying there looking pretty for who?"  So I trimmed the heavy blooms off and brought them in the house.

My first cut flowers!

Aw...Aren't they pretty?

So now I'm on a mission. 

Yes, I am!

I want to start to grow flowers in my garden for me to create pretty bouquets inside my house if I want.

So I need suggestions.

Nothing high maintenance please and lets think all seasons.  From tulips to sunflowers, toss em at me.

What's your favorite flowers to grow and why. 

Not all of them need to be for cutting.  I'm happy to leave them outside too.  Just nothing "fussy" please.  

I've got enough to do with the teenager out in my backyard...@;)