Wildflower Bouquets

I had to work Saturday. It was a long day. When I finally got off work, John Darrin was over at the lease place riding his horse. It was a beautiful evening and after being inside all day not getting to enjoy the awesome weather, nothing sounded better to me than hanging out at the lease place, watching John Darrin ride, and enjoying the evening. So that is exactly what I did. While JD rode, I wandered around and looked at the wildflowers, and the pear tree, and watched JD, and looked at the cows, and tried to coerce the neighbor’s donkey to come to the fence (I wasn’t successful by the way). As I was wandering close to the barn I found a couple of old glass jars in the mud. And then I had an idea! I had jars, water, flowers… everything I needed for a pretty flower arrangement. So I got to work…

First I washed the jars off in the cow’s water trough and then set them on the fence to dry while I gathered the rest of my materials.  

I love the hue that the sun casts on everything as it is setting. I gives everything a hint of orange and yellow.

I found some little white flowers that I believe are White Aster, but I could be mistaken.  Any ideas?

And some tall Goldenrod that at first I thought was ragweed, but it was so pretty I took a chance. Later, Mom (Hi, Mom!) confirmed that it wasn’t ragweed so we were ok.

And I found some Texas Sage. There weren’t just a whole lot of these, so I couldn’t get a bunch, but it added some nice color to a mainly white and yellow bouquet.

Then I got some Maximillian Sunflowers. I like these a lot because there are so many blooms on one plant. I guess Maximilliam liked them too since they are named after him.

I found a ladybug on one of the flowers!

Oh, and then I got some grass because I like grass in my bouquets. I am just that kind of girl. I like how fluffy the little heads are. They capture the sunlight.

And then I went to the pear tree and grabbed some of the pears off of the ground that hadn't been chewed on, stepped on, and weren't rotten. They were kind of few and far between.

And then I went back to my work bench (also known as a feed trough).

Now for assembly- I for one am terrible at arranging flowers. It is something that I just don’t have an eye for. Theoretically, in my mind at least, the tall ones go in the middle and the short ones around the outside, but this never works in real life. I usually just end up sticking them wherever I can get the stem to fit. But, with these flowers the rustic-just-kind-of-stuck-anywhere look really works. That is what I am telling myself anyway. So here are the final results.

I wasn’t sure at first if I liked the pears in the bottom, but I just went with it to see how it turned out. I think it turned out alright.

The next one I did without pears for a couple of reasons. One reason was because I wanted it to be a little different from the first one, and the second reason is because the pears wouldn’t fit through the opening.

I also found an old Miller beer bottle and washed it out and used it as a vase. I stuck with only Maximillian Sunflowers and grass for a more simplified bouquet. I liked it.

So, I was finished, but JD was still riding. So I looked around for some more stuff to add when I found some bailing wire and a couple old feed sacks. And this is what I did.

Isn’t that so much fun? Personally, I think the sunlight hitting it the way it is makes it even more beautiful.  So go out there, throw some random stuff together and make it beautiful! You never know how it might turn out.

And here is a picture of a caterpillar just because it is cute.

Love ya,
Michelle