If a trip to a flower farm is on your summer bucket list, here’s some inspiration on things to do when you get there.
1. Pick your own posy. Lots of flower farms encourage people to pop in to PYO. Take a good walk around the blooms first to get a feel for what’s there and make a mental plan in your head of which types of flowers you want to use together, then go back to choose your flowers. Start with a few ‘showstoppers’ first and then pair them with neutral colours and greenery to set them off. Some flower farms also run workshops on how to arrange posies so you can make the most of your finds.
2. Pick and paint. At some flower farms you can sign up to pick and paint days, where you pick a posy, arrange them, and then paint the arrangement over tea and cake or a glass of wine, perhaps. If you don’t have a flower farm that offers this nearby, you could always take a gang of friends to pick the flowers, then pick up drinks and snacks and some art supplies and head home to paint there.
3. Photograph friends. A popular group activity is to pose with flowers and take lots of photographs of each other, or maybe do a mini photo shoot for someone celebrating a big birthday or another life-milestone. It’s lots of fun to do and you’ll end up with some wonderful mementos of your day.
4. Prepare dinner (or another tasty treat). Lots of flowers are edible and you can buy produce in flower farm shops such as lavender shortbread or rose petal jam to take home. Alternatively, talk to the growers about recipes you can make yourself using edible flowers. Infused products like gin or vinegar are quite easy to do, as are infused sugars.
5. Ponder growing yourself. Use your day to do a bit of research into flowers that might be easy to grow in your own cutting garden. The growers are often full of useful information. Annuals that are easy to grow and pack a punch include sunflowers, cosmos and zinnias.
For a look round a flower farm, join us in our June issue, where we meet flower farmer, Victoria Uff, for a look round her Suffolk flower farm.
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