Fresh Cut Flowers

One of the little things that I enjoy about living in Germany is found on the outskirts of just about every town, and sometimes even plopped down in among buildings in a city: the cut your own flower fields, like this one near our house:

In season, there are always lots of flower bouquets available at grocery stores, or from little florist stands (and prices are very reasonable for lovely things) but it is always more fun to cut your own, choose just the blooms you like, and know they are as fresh as you can get!

As you can see, the stand will have some already cut options for you.  These sunflower bunches were 4 Euro per bunch precut, or you could cut your own for 60 cents per flower.  

I was in the mood for the more colorful gladiolas today, so I grabbed one of the knives they set out for customers to use, and headed back along the lines of flowers (as you can see, the flowers closest to the road are already very much picked over).  

There was PLENTY of selection a little way down the row (you can see the rows of sunflowers in the background here, as well):

5 minutes and 5 Euro later (and really, I only cut 4.20 in flowers--it was all I wanted and I had no change; they are worth the 5 to me though!) I brought home some bright cheerful blooms to celebrate the last day of school and brighten a rainy day:  

--Hadley