How to Keep a Rose
Arrangement Fresh
|
| If
you're fortunate and have roses in your
garden, you can cut them for display in your
home. Weather you cut your own roses or buy
florist roses, you'll want to preserve them
for long-lasting display.
There are few flowers
that look as nice or smell as wonderful as
fresh roses. They're perfect for cutting and
bringing into the house to enjoy, and if you
take a little extra care in cutting and
preparing them, they'll last much longer in
that special vase. |
 |
Preserve Roses Tips
First, make sure your
cutting shears are very sharp and clean. If the
blades are dull, they will crush the stems, and
dirty blades can transmit diseases from one plant
to another. Next, always cut your roses in the
midafternoon, after 3:00, when their nutrient
levels are at their highest.
If you're looking for roses that will look
beautiful for a long time after you've brought
them inside, choose buds that are 1/3 to half
open. Blooms that are already open will look nice,
too, of course, but they won't last nearly as
long. Leave at least three leaves on the stem
you're cutting, but remove all those that will be
below the waterline in your vase.
Back inside, there are a number of tricks you can
use to lengthen the life of your cut roses. First,
you need to replace the small air pocket that was
created when you first cut the stem with water.
Fill a bowl with water that's as hot as you can
stand to put your hand into without being scalded,
and then add a rose preservative (available at any
garden shop) and a few drops of bleach.
Then place the stems of your roses into the bowl
without letting the flowers touch the water. While
the stems are underwater, take your shears and cut
about 1/4 inch off the bottom of each, and then
leave the roses in the bowl until the water has
returned to room temperature.
While you're waiting, you can fill your vase with
warm water, adding your preservatives and a couple
drops of bleach. When the water in your bowl has
cooled, you're ready to place your roses in the
vase, and they'll last an amazingly long time.
In fact, they'll often last so long that the water
will begin to get cloudy in the vase. When that
happens, take the roses out, refill the vase with
hot water, add a couple drops of bleach, and
immediately put the roses back in the vase.
When the roses themselves begin to wilt, you can
revitalize them and have them last even longer by
going through the same process as you did when
they were first cut, although you'll just be
cutting about 1/8 inch off the bottom of the stems
this time. You only need to soak the stems about
an hour, and then you can put your roses into the
vase again and enjoy them for several more days.
It takes a little effort, but if you take the time
to cut and prepare them right, your roses can give
you much more enjoyment than you ever thought
possible.
Copyright © 2006 Jeanette J. Fisher
"America's 'Dream Home'
Maker,"
Jeanette Joy Fisher, teaches five ways to
makeover your home for glorious living. Besides
teaching interior design, Jeanette Fisher offers
free teleseminars and ebooks on interior design
psychology. Please visit
Interior
Design Psychology for free home interior
design tips.
Permission granted to publish this article as
long as the bio remains intact with a live link to
http://www.designpsych.com. No translations
allowed.
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