TRICKS of the TRADE

I just spent a lovely afternoon with a retired / semi-retired florist!  She is attending our Methodist Church in Sonora and offered a flower arranging class for the ladies!!  What fun and learned so much - like those dropping roses are suffering from an "air lock" and the cure is to put them UNDER WATER TOTALLY.  If long stemmed you might have to use the bathtub!  Straighten them out, keep them totally submerged for an hour after you cut 2 inches from their stems while under the water!!  They WILL re-hydrate and stand tall.  You might have to put a soda bottle on them to keep them under water, but they will recover.

When wetting "oasis" to hold your flowers just let the "oasis" soak up the water, don't try to rush by holding it down as it will get air pockets which will cause the flowers to droop.  ALSO spritz arrangement daily with a water spray to keep lovely for two WEEKS!!

I had enjoyed classes in flower arranging by an oriental lady and even had a couple of books on that type of arranging, but this was a classic type of florist arranging using a triangular shape.  We all made different arrangements and all were deemed excellent - must have been the inspiration of the teacher!!  Mine had evergreen and Virginia Creeper from Strawberry, and even some flox that was still in bloom on the hill by the office in Strawberry.  It was fun; now I am off to make supper for the young people at the CAVE.   We have ice cold watermelon for dessert.  Come on by if you are in Sonora!!