Today's bouquet

A "Simply" Extra
Bright orange coreopsis and cheery yellow and brown sunflowers sit in a repurposed saltshaker on an old marble tabletop in our hallway.

Both flowers came from "found" sources.  The sunflowers are an unnamed bush variety that I found in an abandoned field last year when we were picking fruit at Lake Catherine Blueberry Farm.  When we finished picking, I pushed my way through the overgrown grasses and broke off a couple stems.  When we returned home, I stuck the short sections into a pot of soil and put them in the vegetable garden where they received regular watering.  From those small cuttings, three large plants developed.

Bush sunflowers bursting with blooms

 

Lately, as flowering has begun to wane, I've been collecting seeds to spread about on our own untended fields.  My hope is that next summer there will be sunflower bushes filled with cheerful blooms all around the lake.

The orange flowers are a type of wild coreopsis that originally came from a yard in Kissimmee, Florida.  About 26 years ago, I knocked on the homeowner's door and told her how much I admired the blooms.  She graciously allowed me to pick a bouquet and offered me a handful of seeds.  That one handful turned into years and years of fantastic blooms, first at our Kissimmee home and for the past 21 years, here at Bare Lake Farm.

Duskywing butterfly on a wild orange coreopsis flower

  

Whenever I think of it, I go outside and collect seeds.  The old yogurt container where I keep them is gradually filling up and, as I plan to do with the bush sunflower seeds, I hope to spread the easy-to-germinate orange flowers around the property when I take my walks.