![\"Seasonal](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.growntocook.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sized_IMG_2082.jpg?resize=750%2C500&ssl=1\")
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When I was growing up, just about the only flowers you could buy were ugly, stiff, red or white carnations, which, as I have learned since, where also treated with chemicals to keep them \u201cfresh\u201d for months.<\/p>\n
Now I live in the Netherlands which is the biggest exporter of cut flowers in the world and the choice in the stores is much greater.<\/p>\n
Still, I prefer to grow cut flowers myself. Not only does it give me an even greater variety and lots of flowers in the garden too, but since I know my flowers are grown organically, when they fade, I can throw them on the compost heap without worrying about what weird substances I might be adding. Also, as the flowers are locally grown they reflect the changes of our seasons.<\/p>\n
But I have to admit that all to often I don’t take the time to make real bouquets \u2013 mostly it is just one variety of flower in a vase. Lovely for sure but a little plain. When I read about the Seasonal Flower Alliance<\/a>, I immediately knew I wanted to join in the fun, but thought that at the moment there was not enough in my garden to make a bouquet. But when I strolled through my backyard and looked at it through a cut flower-harvester lense, there turned out to be quite a lot to pick. It resulted in the most beautiful spring bouquet to date.<\/p>\n Here is what’s in my bouquet this week: tulips \u201cWhite Triumphator\u201d, iris, Sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata), honesty (Lunaria annua), columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris), iris![\"seasonal](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.growntocook.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sized_IMG_2093.jpg?resize=750%2C500&ssl=1\")
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