Ten Tips for Tiny flower arranging

I recently attended a talk on tiny flower arrangements by Iris Leon, owner of Pod Flower Design. All the flower arrangements in the photos are under 8″x8″x8″. If you look closely you’ll recognize, candle holders, tea light holders, sushi sauce dishes as some of the containers.

Here are some tips on small flower arrangements:
1. Herbs make great sources for small flowers. The flowers are small, many have small leaves and you have the benefit of the lovely scent from many of them.

2. Floral tack is a great help. You can buy it at your local craft store. It comes in rolls and is thin and sticky. You can mount your green foam on your container with it.

3. Floral tape comes in green and clear. Clear is good for glass containers. One or two strips across your foam to the container will hold your foam in place and the clear won’t show. Do not cover all of the foam, it interferes too much with flower placement. You need all of the space on the foam for small arrangements.

4. Soak your green foam first and then just spray your arrangement with water and it should last a week.

5. Use flowers in bud not open for a longer arrangement.

6. Use tweezers to insert the stems into the foam, your fingers are too large.

7. Do not poke holes in the foam first. You’ll need every bit of that foam space.

8. Work on your creations at the same level they will be viewed from.

9. When bending leaves and grass for the more modern arrangements warm them up first and they will be less likely to crack or break on you.

10. Needlepoint plastic also works well. You can cut it to fit inside your container and insert your stems into the plastic holes.

Viagra keeps cut flowers from drooping

. . . they have already tested Viagra on strawberries, legumes, roses, carnations, broccoli, and other perishables. In this latest research they found that 1 mg of the drug (compared with 50 mg in one pill taken by impotent men) in a solution was enough to prevent two vases of cut flowers from wilting for as much as a week longer than might be expected. . . . [ read more Viagra makes flowers stand up straight ]

How to choose and care for cut flowers

Buying:
Single stem flowers should have blooms fully open. ( asters, calendulas, chrysanthemums etc )
Branching flowers should just be starting to open. ( roses etc )

Cutting:
Cut early morning for best cut flowers and immediately put into a bucket of water
Blooms that have not yet begun to open often won’t once cut

Containers:
Should be clean
Fill with warm water
Place in a cool room away from direct sunlight

Prep:
Remove leaves that will be under water
Cut the bottom inch off of each stem

Water:
I just add 1 tsp of vinegar
A more common recipe is: ( 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp bleach, 2 tsps lemon or lime juice, 1 quart warm water )

More information:
The Kindest Cut

Houston Flower Show, Florescence “Cosmos”

It is hard to go wrong with a theme like Cosmos. It was a very nice show. In keeping with the theme there were some really cool unusual designs.

There were a lot of little water gardens this year. That must be the new ‘in’ thing. You know how trends move fast through the gardening world. Now I can’t wait to start one.

I’m not going to say much today, but there are about 15 or so pictures from the show posted on my photos page for you to enjoy. Just follow the link below.