Basket Flowers

Don’t you love it when you learn about a new flower? I just add to my knowledge one-flower-at-a-time, but that makes me happy.

In working with a flower farmer outside of Gettysburg in preparation for our Arrangers class this past Monday, I saw some flowers that had “gone by” but were drying in the field. She said they were Basket Flowers. So that’ll be my new addition to the garden this fall.

Centaurea macrocephala. They’re slightly funky … with a yellow head that looks like a safflower head, and the receptacle develops into a basket–like form that is great in dried arrangements. I’ll see if I can “lift” a photo from the internet to show you.

Meanwhile, aren’t the gardens beautiful with all their bounty?! The lilies are towering this year, and the annuals are finally reflecting their delight in all the earlier rain. Our class was lots of fun, and we were up to our elbows in blooms.


We learned in class that even one bloom can lift our spirits … we don’t always NEED many!

So, today my basket flower just exists in my memory, but next year……