Sunday Flower Picking

This is one of the many things I love about living in Germany! Farmers plant fields of beautiful flowers that are open for people to stop and pick. The best part is that they are on the HONOR system. There seems to be one of these fields in most Villages. The one we visited today is near our house which makes it really convenient to have fresh flowers!

They all have a sign posted with the flower prices.
The little yellow arrow is pointing to where you slip your payment into the can.

The kids were ready!
There are knives left out to help cut the flowers.

There were still a few sunflowers left so we went searching for a few to pick!

This Gladiola has a new home today!

My friend CeCe gave me this vase before she moved to Ansbach last year.

.....and it was perfect for these sunflowers!

I'm so glad we stopped today!!
All of our flowers only cost 4,80 Euro.

Tulips are in bloom....

I absolutely LOVE flowers! I've been ready to plant for a while now, but knew it was just too early considering the unpredictable weather here. I feel like now is the time so we headed over to Vogelweh today to purchase flowers for our terrace. I take it one area at a time....so the front yard is next....woohoo! We made a pit stop on our way in Landstuhl and boy am I glad we did. We saw a beautiful field full of tulips. I was excited and the kids couldn't wait to get out to pick their favorites. They were somewhat disappointed when I said we'd have to stop on the way home because I didn't want them to wilt waiting for us in the BX. They got over it, however, They didn't let me forget when we were leaving with our trunk full of flowers and soil. "Mom the tulips...don't forget to stop ok" is all I heard until we were finally there.

I've found that people here are very trustworthy and use the honor system quite often. We found this "honor system" used at a castle, flower fields, and at horse lessons that my kids were taking. A field is planted with flowers (variety throughout the season) and then a sign is hung listing how much each flower costs. It is assumed that everyone will put their money into the little money slot. The tulips were only .30 Euro each which is a bargain in my book! There is one of these fields close to my house which I'm looking forward to going to once their flowers are in bloom. Will miss this trust when we move back to the states!

So, we headed to the fields which looked more like my kids running and me trying to stop them before they break off the flowers or trample them. We already look a bit freakish to the Germans because they see me with 5 kids and wonder are they ALL hers?? My 2 1/2 year old did manage to grab one before I could get to him, but that's ok. There was a wonderful variety of tulips and colors to choose from. We brought them home and created a few bouquets around the house.

Here they are:

And here is a picture of a few that I purchased yesterday on my way home:

Did I mention that I LOVE flowers??