With the shasta daisies just starting to come out this week it’s been way too tempting not to start picking them…

…even though loads are still just in bud ( I leave those ones…)

they’re such brilliant floral punctuation, particularly with giant purple buddleia…

and they’re so tall this year, that I had to stand on a chair to snap them…

( which I then found quite useful for a view up the garden path with the budding Japanese Anemones !)

they’ll last much longer than a stem of buddleia will, so they always get moved around a lot and put in loads of different arrangements…I’m going to keep a note this year of exactly how long one flower lasts…