Вот бы у меня было больше времени спокойно ухаживать за цветами по утрам.

Вот бы is a common way to express a wish, similar to if only or I wish in English.

So Вот бы у меня было больше времени... means something like:

• If only I had more time...
• I wish I had more time...

This structure is often emotional or slightly dreamy. It is very common in spoken Russian.

After бы, Russian often uses a past-tense form to express an unreal or wished-for situation.

So было here does not literally mean was in a normal past-time sense. Instead, it is part of a wish construction:

• Вот бы у меня было больше времени = If only I had more time

This is similar to English using a past form for unreality:

• I wish I had more time

Even though had looks past, the meaning is about the present.

Russian usually expresses possession with у + genitive + есть / было / будет, not with a verb like to have.

So:

• у меня есть время = I have time
• у меня было больше времени = I had / if only I had more time

Literally, у меня было is closer to there was, by me.

Using иметь is possible in Russian, but it is less natural in everyday situations like this. A native speaker would normally say у меня есть время, not я имею время.

After больше in the sense of more, Russian normally uses the genitive case.

So:

• больше времени = more time
• больше денег = more money
• больше возможностей = more opportunities

Here, время becomes времени, which is the genitive singular form.

Russian often uses a noun like время followed by an infinitive to show time for doing something.

So:

• у меня есть время почитать = I have time to read
• у меня было больше времени спокойно ухаживать за цветами = I had more time to calmly take care of the flowers

In English we also often use time to do something, so this part matches English fairly well.

Спокойно means calmly, peacefully, or without rushing.

In this sentence it describes how the speaker wants to take care of the flowers:

• спокойно ухаживать за цветами = to take care of the flowers calmly / without rushing

Its position before the verb is natural and common in Russian, but Russian word order is fairly flexible. The speaker puts спокойно before ухаживать to highlight the manner of the action.

The verb ухаживать in this meaning requires the preposition за and the instrumental case.

• ухаживать за кем? за чем? = to take care of someone/something

So:

• за цветами = for the flowers / after the flowers
• natural English translation: take care of the flowers

Be careful: ухаживать can also mean to court someone / pursue romantically, especially with people:

• ухаживать за девушкой = to court a girl
• ухаживать за больным = to care for a sick person
• ухаживать за цветами = to care for flowers

The meaning depends on context.

Because the preposition за after ухаживать requires the instrumental.

The dictionary form is:

• цветы = flowers

But after за in this pattern, it becomes:

• за цветами

This is the instrumental plural form.

So the structure is:

• ухаживать за цветами
• ухаживать за детьми
• ухаживать за садом

По утрам means in the mornings or every morning / mornings in general.

It suggests a habitual or repeated time:

• Я читаю по утрам. = I read in the mornings.
• ...ухаживать за цветами по утрам = ...take care of the flowers in the mornings

By contrast:

• утром often means in the morning on a particular occasion or more generally in the morning

So:

• по утрам = repeated habit, mornings in general
• утром = in the morning

Also, по утрам uses the dative plural form утрам after по in this time expression.

Yes, the word order is natural. Russian word order is flexible, and the current version sounds smooth and expressive:

• Вот бы у меня было больше времени спокойно ухаживать за цветами по утрам.

The order helps present the wish first, then the thing wished for, then the purpose.

You could change the order slightly, but the emphasis would shift. For example:

• Вот бы у меня было больше времени по утрам спокойно ухаживать за цветами.

This version puts more focus on mornings as the time slot where the extra time is needed.

Both are grammatical. The original sounds very natural.

Usually, no. Бы by itself would not work naturally here.

You can say:

• Вот бы у меня было больше времени...
• Если бы у меня было больше времени... = If I had more time...

But бы у меня было больше времени on its own is not a normal complete sentence.

In this sentence, вот бы forms a fixed wish expression. It adds an emotional tone: longing, regret, or daydreaming.