nigellas

Pick Your Own Nigellas in the Netherlands!

Grab a basket – it’s time to go flower picking in the Dutch countryside! Nigellas, also known as “Love-in-a-Mist,” are those dreamy blooms with delicate petals in shades of blue, pink, and white, surrounded by feathery foliage and followed by quirky, inflated seed pods. The flowers are in season from June to August.

Picking them is pure joy. Use scissors or garden shears and snip the stems just above a leaf node. The fun part? The “mist” of fine, thread-like leaves that surrounds each flower makes them look like they’re floating. Choose fully open blooms and leave wilted flowers on the plant. Go in the morning if you can: it’s cooler, and the delicate flowers wilt less. Plus, if you shake a dried pod gently, you’ll hear the tiny seeds rattling inside.

The farms in the Netherlands are often set up with rows of these beauties, so you can fill your basket without rushing. Just watch out for the bees – they love nigellas as much as you do.

Once You’re Home: How to Use Them

Because these nigellas are flowers, not food, we’re going full decoration mode. (No, please don’t eat the flowers or the seed pods – they’re for looks only!)

Wild Meadow Bouquet: Combine them with white daisies, yellow rudbeckia, or even a few stems of lavender. The feathery “mist” will soften any arrangement.
Dried Love Letters: Hang bunches upside down in a dark, dry spot for two weeks. The striped seed pods become stunning, architectural decorations for wreaths or winter vases.
Table Scatter: Snip off just the flower heads and float them in a shallow bowl of water with a floating candle. Instant garden party centerpiece.
Pressed Flower Art: Press the petals (they’re thin but hold color well) and use them in cards, bookmarks, or framed miniatures.

Camping Innerduyn (incl. pluktuin)

flowers, herbs, grasses

zeeland

Camping Innerduyn in Biggekerke is a pick-your-own flower farm open from July until the end of September. The field is divided into 42 small plots planted with annual flowers such as sunflowers, zinnias, cornflowers, marigolds and dahlias. The plots are sown at different times so that flowers are available throughout the season. The farm is open daily from sunrise to sunset. You pay by the size of the bouquet, not by weight or stem. Scissors and elastic bands are provided in a self-service kiosk. Payment is on trust: you leave cash in a box or transfer the amount later. The kiosk also sells local produce, including potatoes, onions, free-range eggs, honey, apples and pears, depending on the season.

Tuinderij Amelis’Hof

vegetables, herbs, flowers

utrecht

Tuinderij Amelis’Hof in Bunnik is a historic, one-hectare market garden where you can pick your own flowers and seasonal vegetables. The farm grows around 100 varieties of vegetables, including heritage types like oerbiet (a traditional beetroot), winter broccoli, snijbiet (Swiss chard), spekbonen (flat green beans), pastinaak (parsnip) and aardpeer (Jerusalem artichoke). There are also 25 types of herbs, small fruits and over 150 flower species, such as cornflowers, sweet peas, dahlias and zinnias. The flower field is open from late May until October.

De Moestuin Utrecht

fruit, vegetables, flowers, herbs, berries

utrecht

De Moestuin in Utrecht is a pick-your-own farm where visitors can harvest seasonal vegetables, fruit, herbs, and flowers directly from the fields. The farm grows over 50 types of vegetables, including tomatoes, courgettes, beans, and leafy greens, as well as soft fruit like strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and currants. Herbs and edible flowers are also available for picking, and from July to September, visitors can cut their own bouquets from the flower field, which includes dahlias, sunflowers, and cornflowers.

Hanna's Pluktuin

flowers

friesland

At Hanna’s Pluktuin in Makkinga, you pick your own seasonal flowers directly from the field. The farm grows dahlias, zinnias, sunflowers, amaranthus, ornamental tobacco, statice, salvia, scabiosa, fountain grass, calendula, strawflowers, echinacea, yarrow, sea lavender, snapdragons, bishop’s weed, nigella, bronze fennel, phlox, globe amaranth, lion’s tail, marguerites and more. The selection changes through the season. You pay €12.50 for a hand-held bouquet of 20 to 25 stems, which you cut yourself with scissors provided. The farm also sells gift vouchers starting at €10, valid for two years on fresh bouquets, dried flowers and decorative items. Pre-arranged bouquets can be ordered in advance for collection.

Moestuin Vollenhoven

flowers

utrecht

Moestuin Vollenhoven in De Bilt is a historic and regenerative kitchen garden where you can pick your own flowers from late June to the end of September. The garden grows over sixty varieties, including annuals and perennials such as larkspur, snapdragons, sweet peas, gypsophila, dahlias, zinnias, sunflowers and asters. You buy a flower-cutting card, with each cut worth €17.50—enough for about five large dahlia stems or twenty-five sweet peas. The flowers are grown without chemical pesticides or fertilisers, using no-dig methods to protect the soil.

Pluktuin De Keet

flowers, herbs, grasses

gelderland

Pluktuin De Keet in Vorden is a pick-your-own flower garden where visitors can cut seasonal blooms from the fields. The main picking season runs from early July until late summer, though the garden remains open daily for walking and enjoying the surroundings even after the self-picking period ends. Over 30 varieties of flowers and ornamental grasses are grown, including zinnias, cornflowers, dill, and ever-blooming species like cosmos and marigolds. Some flowers regrow after cutting, while others are one-time bloomers.