In Bloom - Vases and Vessels

You don't always have to put your flowers in traditional vases - single blooms look the cutest in little containers such as these egg cups or other little bottles you may have hidden around the house, think - baby food jars and tin cans (all cleaned up of course)! Grouping vessels of blooms at different heights looks fab or in a simple clustered line looks really effective too. It doesn't always have to be flowers either, simple greenery or a branch can look just as striking... now go out and spend 10 minutes scouting your garden for something lovely to brighten up your dining table :-) or not...

In Bloom - Keeping Flowers Fresh

One of the tricks to keeping flowers fresh is buying them as fresh as possible, clean water/vessel and trimming the stems.

1. Just like visiting the farmers market to get the freshest produce available, treat flowers in the same way and try and reduce the storage/handling time they have endured before eventually hitting a vase near you!
   
2. Clean your vases regularly or before use, you can use bleach to kill bacteria but bicarb, Enjo cloth etc.. would be more environmentally friendly.
   
3. Trimming the stems on an angle gives them a bigger chance of water intake and using a florists knife is ultimately better than scissors (large pocket/paring knife might do the trick). Scissors pinch the stems which reduces water intake - but use what you have!
4. A teaspoon of sugar not only helps the medicine go down, but it can help prolong flower life too!

These are all simple things, yet you would be surprised how little care flowers get then everyone whines because they don't last as long! Enjoy your fresh cut flowers for longer.