A few flowers in a vase will make any space- your cubicle, kitchen table, or dreary dark hallway- more appealing. (NOTE: If you have pets, be sure to avoid dangerous varieties, such as lilies.)
1. Flowers don’t need to be expensive to be pretty. They don’t even need to be flowers. If you find some interesting branches on a walk take them home, arrange them in a vase, and proudly display your handiwork. If the branches are top heavy, grab some stones too, and put them in the vase for stability. Don’t be intimidated by what you think a “flower arrangement” should look like; especially in the spring, budding branches will outshine most expensive flowers.
2. The basics: cut the bottom of the stem on an angle so it can absorb plenty of water. Strip away only the leaves that will be underwater, as these will rot and make the flowers die faster. Speaking of water, change it every few days, rinse off the stems and re-cut them. Also cut off any dead flowers.
3. If you’re afraid of doing it wrong, start small. Get one rose, put it in a bud vase (a champagne glass works, too) and enjoy.
4. If you’re warming up to using more than one flower, leave the whimsical teapots and wine bottles to the professionals and buy a few real vases: one tall and slim, the other shorter and rounder. Plain glass will do fine, and you can find them at any flea market or dollar store.
5. You can always take off the plastic wrap and plunk the flowers in a vase, but cutting each flower a slightly different length and putting them in one by one will look better. Cut an inch or two off the first flower, a little more off the second, less off the third…place each one in the vase as you cut, and you’ll see how long or short the rest need to be. Fill up the base of the vase- the stems don’t all need to land in one place.
6. If you don’t have large quantities (for example, a dozen roses), always get an odd amount- three, five, seven. The arrangement will look more interesting, particularly if you follow step 5.
7. Less is more. Few things are tackier than those gas station bouquets made of 14 varieties of garishly colored flowers. Not that there’s anything wrong with the flowers! Take the thing apart (throw out some of the extra green stuff, while you’re at it) and distribute them all over the house. More flowers, less ugly! Win-win.
8. Unless you’re doing a wedding or bat mitvah, don’t worry about color schemes. Flowers rarely “clash” with rooms, so don’t let your fuchsia walls deter you from orange lilies.
June 24th, 2010 at 3:46 am
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June 24th, 2010 at 4:32 am
It’s the first time I have heard that in Macedonia, obits are an unusual observe.