Welcome Spring With Fresh Flowers

You’re excited about the arrival of Spring and you can’t wait to fill your home with flowers.  Here are some tips I found on one of my favorite sites  http://www.veranda.com/  I want to share with you.  If you like you might want to check their site sometime.

Cut flower stems at a 45-degree angle one inch from the bottom. This instantly increases the surface area for water intake, so your flowers will be well hydrated.

Use a teacup as a vase, or any smaller item you love. Don’t trash flowers with shorter stems. Keep the stems together using a clear hair tie so they don’t separate.

Open closed buds quickly by putting them in warm water first, then cold water.  After cutting flower stems as described in No. 1, put flowers in a glass filled with warm water. After a minute, move flowers to a vase filled with cold water and leave them for 20 minutes. Flowers will open up to their maximum size.

Add a vodka-sugar elixir to your water to keep flowers looking flawless longer. (I would never have thought of this one) Before putting your flowers in a vase, add several drops of vodka and a teaspoon of white sugar, which delays wilting. When your flowers eventually do start to die (sad face), add a shot of vodka into the water and the stems will stand up straight again for a day or two.

Display succulents in pretty dessert bowls. Dessert bowls make chic pots for a succulent! Simply fill to the brim with potting soil. Over time, it will begin to grow roots. Just be sure to spray them once a week with the spray bottle until the top of the soil looks wet.

Water your orchid with an ice cube. Water the orchid with one ice cube a week. For larger orchids, use two ice cubes a week. The ice cube melts slowly and gives the orchid a slow drip of hydration, so that it doesn’t drown it.

 

Create a grid with transparent tape to keep flowers in place in a shallow vase. 

  

Stack a vase within a vase in order to layer fruit slices along the inside. Find a vase that fits inside another vase with half an inch of room between them. Fill the space between the two vases up most of the way with water before slipping in sliced lemons. I personally like this one; I’m sure you can come up with some other creative ideas.

Drop a penny in your vase to keep your flower water fresh longer. The copper in pennies works as an acidifier, which helps prevent fungus or bacteria from growing. Note:Marshall suggests looking for pennies minted before 1982, since they contain more copper and will keep your arrangement look amazing a couple of days longer.