Wildflowers: making a bouquet and what not to pick

Cornflowers, daisies, bellflowers, poppies — wildflowers carry a special charm of summer and freedom. Today the “wildflower” look is popular in floristry too: light bouquets that seem freshly gathered from a meadow are given on dates and at weddings. Here is which wildflowers suit a bouquet, which must not be picked and how to get a meadow-style bouquet without heading to the fields.

Wildflower-style bouquets: spray roses and chrysanthemums.

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The essentials

• Good for bouquets: cornflowers, ox-eye daisies, bellflowers, yarrow, tansy, oregano.
• Wilt fast: poppies and buttercups — enjoy them in the meadow.
• Do not pick: pasque flowers, snowdrops and other species in Ukraine’s Red Data Book, or any plants in nature reserves and parks.

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Picking and keeping a wildflower bouquet

• Pick early in the morning or in the evening, when plants are full of moisture.
• Cut stems with a knife or secateurs; do not pull up roots.
• Put the flowers in water straight away — take a bottle of water with you.
• At home, recut the stems and remove leaves below the waterline.

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The wildflower look from a florist

Florists create meadow-style bouquets from flowers grown for cutting: feverfew, craspedia, limonium, scabiosa, ornamental grasses and eucalyptus. They last longer and do no harm to nature. More on the natural style in Floristry styles.

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Wildflowers in your garden

You can create a mini meadow in a sunny spot by sowing a mix of annual and perennial meadow plants. For natural-style garden ideas see English-style garden.

FAQ

Can I make a poppy bouquet last?

Cut poppies are short-lived; some people sear the stem ends to stop the sap flowing, but even then they last only a few days.

Why must pasque flowers not be picked?

Pasque flowers and several other early spring flowers are protected by law: their populations are shrinking, and a picked plant cannot set seed.

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Author: Maria Svitlovir

Graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of Biology and Medicine (2001). BSc in Biology, MSc in Horticulture. Writes about plants, works at a garden centre selecting and repotting plants, and contributes to plant reference guides.