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Enjoy a Cutting Garden

Written by Emma Barker. Photographs by Aimee Herring

Gathering tulips (plus daisies, snapdragons and lavender) from your backyard or at a you-pick farm fills vases -- and the soul.

A bucket overflows with cosmos, rudbeckia and snapdragons.

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The healing power of flowers

We've long believed -- and science now proves -- that gathering bouquets is about far more than making a pretty display for your home. It's good for your health, too.

Many medical professionals recognize nature's healing power. Jean Larson of the University of Minnesota Center for Therapeutic Horticulture, for example, holds therapy sessions in a garden because patients are more relaxed and show quicker progress there.

Flowers also help kids focus and learn faster, says Mary Vidas, director of Tamarack Nature Center in White Bear Township, Minnesota. "With today's hectic family lives, discovering flowers together has restorative properties," she says. "Children brought up with even small amounts of nature in the home are predisposed to lower stress levels."

Ready to pick some flowers of your own? The next slides show where you can visit you-pick flower farms in the Midwest, how to make your bouquets last and which flowers are the best for a cutting garden at home.