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Summers fade quickly, probably because every weekend is filled birthday party place, barbecue, holiday celebration or wedding. Your flower garden looks great this year, but the weather starts to get colder. Sometimes the best way to prolong the joy of summer is to grab a handful of daisies, tulips, lilies, peonies and create beautiful summer bouquets. The good news is that you do not have to be a master florist to create something stylish and inspiring!

is one step toward creating a lively summer flower bouquets, of course, planting. The best time to start in late March or May in the West to the East, the threat of frost is reduced. According to Benjamin, Beth, flower expert Renee's Garden Seed Company, the best flower picks are the cosmos, sunflowers and zinnias. The first line of her garden, she planted cerinthe purplish blue, deep violet love-in-fog and Phlox.

Her second row consists of white cosmos flanked Chartreuse bells and Ireland and is backed by white AMMI majus as a filler. The third line, round, colorful zinnias grow next to the blue and red salvia. fourth row of hanging ardent love-lies-bleeding in the left and cherry pink cleome on the right side, flanked by pink roses and cosmos. In the rear, high sunflowers grow with strawflowers at each end.

florist There are many tricks to extend the vase life of your summer bouquets. Cut flowers early in the morning for the freshest cut. Using a sharp scissors to make sure water can travel up the stem of a flower. Place stems in a bucket of warm water immediately after cutting. Inside, fill a sink with cold water and re-cut under water, allowing water to travel up the stem, rather than air.

Keep all bacteria-inducing leaves from the water. Add floral preservative containing sugar, acidifier, and a biocide in lukewarm water. You can also create your own mix with one part of a regular lemon-lime soda to three parts water and 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon of vinegar and crushed aspirin in 24 ounces of water.

access to your summer bouquets vigilant eyes and open hearts. "Gather the items your garden has to offer, and then add a little more than a grocery store, " advises the Georgia flower designer Ryan Gainey. "It's not always when the flowers are at their height that they are in the best light. Many times, when they go to seed, their true beauty comes forward." He says that looking for crepe myrtle seed heads, fern fronds and black-eyed Susan for some pleasant surprises.