Where flowers bloom so does hope.
"I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers."
Claude Monet
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Where flowers bloom so does hope.
"I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers."
Claude Monet
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Flower |
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Using Flowers in Arrangements
When picking flowers from your garden, do so early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Cool them quickly by placing them in a bucket of water left in a cool place for an hour or so.
If you are buying cut flowers, look for bright, fresh looking flowers that are just starting to open and avoid flowers that have been standing in the sun or have been exposed to car exhaust fumes. When you get your flowers home, put them straight into a bucket of water without unwrapping them and leave them in a cool place to revive.
Make sure your vases are perfectly clean. You can change the water in the vase daily or use a floral preservative. Cut off a couple of inches of stem with sharp shears and be sure to remove any leaves that would be below the water level in the vase. Any left on the stem will rot quickly and pollute the water.
Morning Glory: Native to the tropics, more than 200 species of morning glories come from the Americas alone. Their requirements are few, and their daily crop of freshly opened blue, purple, pink, scarlet, white or multicolored single or double trumpet-shaped flowers makes them one of the most widely grown of all annual vines. Flowers are normally open only from dawn to midmorning, but the newer varieties tend to hold their flowers open most of the day, especially in cloudy weather. Flowers can be as much as eight inches across although most are around 4 inches. The vine's abundant leaves are heart-shaped, 4 to 5 inches long. Back to Flowers
Yarrow has been valued since ancient times for its ability to stop bleeding, hence its folk name "nosebleed." Today, yarrow is valued for its ability to fight off colds and flu. It is also an ingredient in many herbal cosmetics. Dried and cut flowers are used in arrangements. Flowers heads are flat and 2" to 6" across on 2' to 5' stems. Colors include white, yellow, gold, pink and red. The aromatic foliage is green or gray. Back to Flowers
Lavender is a traditional cottage garden plant. Its gray-green spikes of foliage and purple flowers provide color all year. Since the Middle Ages, the dried flowers have been one of the main ingredients of potpourri. Fresh sprigs are included in herbal bunches known as tussie mussies, which have been used for hundreds of years to mask unpleasant odors and ward off illness. The plant may grow to a height of 3 feet, but there are dwarf forms for edging which reach only about 10 inches. The stems are thick and woody, and become straggly if left unpruned. Back to Flowers
