Summer cut flowers

SUMMER is the season for wandering through the garden and picking flowers to take into the house. Almost anything can be cut – the issue is that some flowers last far better in water than others.

Of course, if you cut too many flowers from beds and borders then your garden display might start to look a little thin, so setting a few plants aside in the veg garden, or out of full view, will provide flowers for the house without plundering the borders.

Whichever flowers you grow for cutting, there are a few simple rules to ensure that your fresh cut flowers last as long as possible.

First, most flowers are best cut first thing on a dry morning, when the flowers are not dewy and before the sun has started to suck the moisture out of the