Earthly Garden

If you’re lucky enough to receive a bouquet of fresh cut flowers or a live centerpiece, here are some tips to keep them alive and looking beautiful for as long as possible.

For cut flowers, use a pair of very sharp scissors or shears to cut the stems at an angle under running water. You’ll want to make sure you cut them to fit in your vase. Fill the vase with cool water and add the packet of plant food that came with the bouquet. If it didn’t come with one, don’t bother with any home remedies such as adding an asprin tablet or a penny. They don’t work. Before adding your flowers, strip off any leaves below the water line. If you leave them they will just rot, causing the flowers to die more quickly, make the water cloudy, and add a very unpleasant odor. Once you’ve arranged your flowers, make sure to change the water regularly and keep them away from high heat and drafts. Here’s a tip…if you have roses and they open fully within a day or so, it’s too hot!

For centerpieces, mist daily and make sure the foam block they are arranged in is kept moist. If your centerpiece includes candles, be very careful not to let them burn too low. At best, it could scorch your flowers, at worst, it could start a fire.
You’ll also want to be sure to keep any arrangement with colorful berries in it out of reach of curious tots and pets! Follow these tips and you can expect to enjoy your flowers for at least a week!

cut flowers, fresh flowers, flower arrangements, centerpieces, cut flower care, holiday flowers

Mornin’ earthly gardeners,

I have to tell ya, I’m not in the mood for talking about fresh tomatoes right now….it’s been freezing here! We had a freakish late freeze on Saturday night, and at the last minute we were scurrying around covering plants, hauling the EarthBox into the garage, turning off the water in the garden hoses, checking the pump house, etc. etc. It was supposed to get up to the 50’s yesterday, but it didn’t. We got some sleet Saturday morning, and friends just north of us got up to three inches of snow. People who don’t believe that our climate is changing need to get a clue…..80-degrees in December and freezing on Easter eve….NOT normal. I’m worried about the hummingbirds since I haven’t seen any out today.

To cheer us up a bit, I dug around in the files and found a photo of one of my antique roses blooming in April of last year. Several people have expressed an interest in growing heirlooms, but wanted roses that they could cut. This particular one grows on a long sturdy stem, and makes a wonderful cut flower.

My other bushes are blooming now, too, and have been for about a month. I hope this one short freeze doesn’t do them in!

Keep warm, and dig it!

bobbi .
Copyright©2007 bobbi a. chukran. all rights to photos and text reserved.

antique roses, climate changes, global warming, unusual weather, heirloom roses, cut flowers