There are a lot of reasons for planting and growing a wide variety of flowering plants in your garden. I designed my front garden to attract butterflies and hummingbirds. However, I also enjoy cutting many of my perennial flowers when they bloom to bring them indoors and enjoy there.

When cutting flowers from your garden keep the following tips in mind:

• Cut a long stem and strip the leaves and stems off the bottom half of the stem.
• Plunge into a bucket of cool (not cold!) water.
• Bring indoors to place and arrange in a deep vase as soon as possible. If you are unable to do this quickly store the bucket of fresh cut flowers in the shade -- out of direct sunlight!
• Once you have your cut flowers arranged be sure to replace the water every couple of days.