Flowers

This week has been a rough one.  I've been duking it out with shingles, or as they call in in Lebanon, "firebelt."  I feel like I've lost, every step of the way.

Some of my friends brought me flowers, beautiful, pink and white flowers, to cheer me up a little.

I love flowers, so these have brightened my day.  I thought I would share some tips on how to keep fresh-cut flowers nice a pretty just a little longer.

1.  Cut the angles at the stem with a sharp knife.  Cutting the stem at an angle allows for more surface area for the flowers to absorb water.  Using a dull knife can mash the base which interferes with the flow of water.

2.  Change the water often, at least every other day, especially whenever it looks murky.

3.  This is an important one.  Prune away any leaves or foliage that're below the water line.  They will start to decay before the flowers, and then the contaminated water will get drawn up into the flowers, speeding up their decay.

4.  This may sound obvious, but make sure all of the stems in the bouquet reach the water.  Sometimes in big bouquets the shorter stems don't make it all the way to the water and they die off first.

5.  Remove flowers that wilt first from the bouquet.  This preserves the life of the healthier flowers.

6.  If your flowers come with one of those packs of flower food, use it.  Flowers in Leb don't come with them, unfortunately. 

You may know all of these already; not sure how common knowledge they are...  Hope they help you, like me, enjoy the flowers that brighten your days just a little longer.