So, the shot looks ok
A few things to consider though...
There is not a single thing wrong with gardening. Gardening you say?! Yes. Shot Gardening
The act of cleaning or moving elements of items or aspects around to make the scene look more pleasant. Here, the dead poppy flower in the background is not necessarily the easiest thing to remove in post processing, but it is certainly easy to remove at the time! So there is nothing wrong with doing so. After all, with it removed, no one would know it's there, and it does not make the scene look in any way un-natural without it
It all boils down to composition. You composed this shot, and so you must've noticed the dead flower in the background
Just something to consider at a later date! - On a second look, that entire stalk going through the back of the flower could be removed
The colours are nice a natural looking, which in my book is a definite positive. The flower is on a thirds line, which is nice, but then on the other axis it's slap back in the middle. While sometimes this can work, here, I don't think it does I'm afraid. With the bottom of the photo being in focus moreso than the background, I'd suggest a slight crop from the bottom to just bring it off level with the center.
Oh yes, and perhaps clone out the 4 black spots on the flower itself. I know some don't like editing at all, but finding a flower without said spots is possible, so cloning is not frowned upon
In general, these sorts of shots are easy to get, harder to get well, and disproportionately hard to get very well indeed imo. Composition has to be absolutely spot on, zero clutter, well processed, good DoF etc etc to really nail a stonker of a shot. While I think this shot is certainly not bad, I think you really need to consider your compositions to start getting stonker shots
Obviously I've not seen any of your other work, so I'm only commenting on this one!
Keep taking shots though, it all comes with practice!
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