Pick Your Own Flowers
No need to book just arrive with a bucket to get your flowers home safely and secateurs if you have them.
No need to book, just arrive with a bucket
Come and collect one of our buckets or jugs and a pair of snippers if you need them from the Tea Garden.
We open by appointment on other days when we are not generally open. Minimum of one bucket of flowers.
We grow almost everything seasonal in our gardens from Antirrhinums to Zinnias, grasses and foliage but, of course, not all at the same time! Flowers have their own season, e.g. Peonies in early summer, Dahlias mid-late summer with everything else flowering on and off throughout.
We’ll direct you to where the best flowers are on the day, then you are free to explore the gardens and pick your favourite flowers to take home.
Complete your visit with a cuppa.
What you have to pay
Jug or vase £20 (jug & vases not included)
Fill your own jug or vase with any of our lovely flowers, foliage and grasses.
Do not cram them in – you’ll just damage the flowers and stems
Buckets – Larger £55 & Smaller £20 (bucket not included but can be purchased for £6)
As above
Children’s Jam Jars £10
Try to look for short-stemmed flowers that are growing low to the ground and also shorter side branches of things like Cosmos, Cornflower ect.
How and what to pick
Our flowers are to be found all around both the Cutting Garden, polytunnels and the Family Garden, so take your time and have a good walk around before you start cutting.
Please feel free to pick any flowers that take your fancy, however, certain flowers may be sign posted with a restriction of how many you can pick.
Cut down to the length required – usually about 50cm, or 20cm for a jam jar. Always cut to just above a leaf or branch unless you are cutting down to the ground. Then strip off any unwanted side branches and the leaves on the lower half and throw onto the bins provided.
Don’t forget foliage! It can highlight the special flowers within an arrangement and give it a more natural, flowing look. Any foliage can be picked including from the trees in the woodland, hedges around the garden and from the plants and flowers themselves.
For the longest vase-life
Bring a container with you to get your flowers home in some water.
Choose flowers that are not quite fully open but just showing their colour – this is especially important for roses and peonies.
Cut to a suitable length for your vases, cutting just above a leaf or bud or all the way to the ground if that is where the stem comes from.
Strip all the lower leaves off the stem (drop them onto the bins) and put your flowers straight into your vessel of water whilst picking.
When you get your flowers home nip the bottom of the stems and plunge them up to their necks in cold water and a pinch of bicarbonate of soda, an aspirin or a spoonful of sugar. Then keep them in a cool place, never letting them stand in direct sunlight.
If the heads flop at any stage – even after a couple of days – sear the stem end in boiling water for about 15 seconds. Many will then perk up and last another couple of days.
Thick woody stems benefit from having the bottom 10cm slit vertically with a knife to allow more water to be absorbed.
Change the water every other day, snipping a little more off the stems.
Your flowers should then last at least a week depending on the variety.
Roses: Roses, sadly, do not generally last more than about 3 days. Such a shame, but if you follow the advice above and cut the stems to only about 20cm that can lengthen the vase-life by 2 or 3 days. Perfect for beautiful bowl arrangements or to use as lower-level interest in an arrangement of taller flowers. Also, perfect for bridal bouquets that only need to look great on the day.