Saying It With Flowers

Now that Mother’s Day is but a memory for another year, ladies all over are putting away their vases. It always seems a shame to me how much money is spent on cut flowers that only last a few days, but there is nothing lovelier on the table than a spring bouquet, whether purchased from the floral shop or hand picked by someone who loves you.

I have to say that although I love all varieties, if someone is going to give me cut flowers I would go for carnations every time. Carnations come in nearly every colour. The colours they don’t come in, you can custom dye by putting food colouring in the water of white carnations. They will suck up the dye in the water up into their pedals. Carnations can last 3 weeks or more, especially if you feed them the little packets of flower food that come with them.

There are also other tricks to making your arrangement hang on just a little bit longer. I once got a beautiful bouquet of roses that I put in my spare fridge at night. The roses lasted a full two weeks - an almost unheard of length of time for roses. If you don’t have an extra fridge that you can put your vase into, take your flowers to the basement or some other place that cool. If it’s not going to freeze, putting them outside in a sheltered place from the wind can work just as well. Displaying them in the coolest room of your house will help during the day.

Fill your sink with water and cut the stems under water at an angle with a sharp knife. Don’t use scissors as they can crush the capillaries that carry the water to the flower. You can also make a small X about a half inch deep in the bottom of each stem to open them up .

Remove any leaves on the stems that are below the waterline, and take out any flowers that are dead. Leaving them will cause the other flowers to wilt faster.

Make sure your vase has lots of water. If your flowers are sitting in a warm room, they will drink a lot of water. Change the water every few days. When you add water to the vase, use warm water, not cold as flowers can absorb the warmer water easier. Some people say that misting the blooms helps keep them fresh as well. Don’t forget to give them some of that packet plant food. It really does help keep them longer than just plain water. If you don’t have the packet flower food, put in a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of bleach.

If you have a flower that has a broken stem, but still looks ok, you can prop it up by sticking the stem through a sturdy milkshake straw. Or you use clear packing tape to make a bandaid that will keep it upright. If you are trying to keep tulips from flopping over, push a small straight pin through the stem under the head.

If you have a bouquet of roses and the heads start to droop, you can try to revive them by recutting the ends and then laying them in the bathtub for a few hours, submersed in lukewarm water. If that doesn’t do the trick, cut the heads off and place them in a rose bowl instead to get a few more days enjoyment out of them.