It's a beautiful arrangement! I love it. It's very pleasing to the eye.

Very nice Laurie! I am hereby coming out of the closet and admitting that I like goutweed. Very much. I have a whole stack of it in the backyard and it looks fabulous.

Beautiful, Laurie. Do you know how long the foliage persists - i.e., does it wilt after a couple of days or hold up well for quite a while?

What are the white frothy flowers - goutweed blooms?

I used Diablo Ninebark foliage in some bouquets last week, after trialing it I've found it will persist over a week without wilting. Spirea foliage & blooms are also good. Lady's Mantle is another good candidate this time of year. And Hosta leaves seem to last forever - and so does Bergenia.

Something that doesn't work in bouquets (or, at least for me it hasn't) is ferns. After 2 days they look horrible.

I love making bouquets. I've got about a dozen humongous peonies in a vase at the moment - much nicer than watching them flop outside.

Pudge, I'm enjoying making bouquets also. I never used to cut any flowers, so I'm just in the process of finding out what lasts and what doesn't. How many days are your peonies lasting? I cut some and they were gorgeous for only a few days. How are you conditioning them?

Laurie,

Doesn't that look great!!

What kind of roses from your garden did you use? What did your mom and dad think of it? I am sure it will grace their kitchen/dining room table for many days.

I never thought of using goutweed either. The variegation in the leaves really add to the arrangement.

Brenda

Such talent, Laurie. I wouldn't even venture to put a commercial price on it, but it certainly would fetch a high pricetag. And this bouquet is made totally with love. Priceless.

I was just looking at a beautiful display of Cup and Saucer Canterbury Bells today and thinking I should put them into a vase. But I hate to destroy the look of the clump, even though some are fading. Anyone know how long they last as a cut flower?

Shauna

Peonies are lasting about a week in floral preservative when picked in 'marshmallow' stage. Feel the bud, when the outside petals are just lifting and the bud feels kind of like a marshmallow is the best time to pick. They will continue to open in the house - even tight buds just showing colour will begin to open in about 48 hours.

A household recipe for floral preservative is 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp vinegar and a few drops of bleach to a litre of water. The sugar provides food for the flowers, the vinegar acidifies the water which is easier to draw it up the stem, and the bleach stops bacterial growth which causes the stems to block, inhibiting the uptake of water and then the flowers wilt. Apparently one can also use a lemon-lime soda in place of the sugar and vinegar (it does both jobs) but I'm not sure of the ratio to water, and a bit of bleach would still be required. The other thing that's important is to strip all leaves and foliage from the stems that would be in the water. Foliage in water causes bacterial growth. Changing water often also helps the bouquet to stay fresh longer, as does keeping the bouquet cool, so put it on the shady part of the table instead of in the sun.

I've been picking peonies in tight bud to marshmallow stage and holding them in the fridge. I've got about 75 in there at the moment (some in mom's fridge, too). Pick in marshmallow stage in the morning or evening (not in the heat of the day), strip all foliage, set them in preservative water for 2-3 hours in the basement or somewhere nice and cool, then pull them out of the water, wrap loosely in saran wrap (but making sure seams are sealed) and lay them on their sides in the bottom of the fridge. I've read they'll hold up to 4 weeks, but I've only held them for a week before I used them. Works like a charm.

Thanks so much Pudge. I'm going to go pick some more tonight and try again. Hopefully I still have some in marshmallow stage.

Maybe I'll cut some goutweed and see how long it lasts also.

Northspruce, I'll admit to liking goutweed also. I have a couple of clumps thriving in my yard.

Thats beautiful....You sure got a good eye for making arrangements Laurie! I would of never thought of adding Goutweed in an arrangement, it sure looks good!

Sharon

Thanks everyone. I have to admit that I re-used an old foam oasis for this arrangement, which is a no-no. But some of the goutweed leaves lasted for a couple of days, while some others lasted only the day. I'm not sure why the discrepency, but it could have been the foam. And yes, the white lacy flowers are the goutweed flowers and they lasted at least 3 days in there.

Pudge, that's funny that you mentioned using ninebark Diablo, because that's what I used today to re-fill the arrangement before I left. So I'm glad to hear that it'll last a lot longer than the goutweed. I also haven't had luck with ferns lasting for more than a day really, which is too bad, because I absolutely love them in bouquets. And I love how hosta leaves add a "skirt" around an arrangement, and they do last a long time too. Have you ever used iris leaves? They add a bit of drama to an arrangement and/or can give it an oriental feel.

Brenda, I had a real assortment of roses in there, from Love to Hawkeye Belle, JP Connell(these three lasted the longest)and Folksinger, Morden Blush, John Davis, and Red Robusta. This morning I took out the blown roses and took a few Morden Blush, JP Connell, and even an Emily Carr out of mom's garden to fill it back up. Hopefully it'll last for a few days, as they're having company for the weekend.

Btw, after I took the picture of the arrangement, I had a eureka moment and ran out and cut some mock orange flowers to add that all important scent factor. But sadly they faded by that evening, but the car smelled wonderfully for the trip up there.:0)

Laurie

I've done a lot of reading/researching over winter about cutting flowers - not so much the artistic aspect but about when to cut what, how to condition, etc. Since I'm selling them, I really want my customers to get around a week out of their bouquet. I trial a lot in the house - a stem of this and a stem of that - some in preservative and some just in water. (Shauna, I don't have Canterbury Bells but I've read they make an excellent cut)

Apparently what is very helpful is to cut the flowers early in the morning taking a bucket of water outside with you to place them in immeidatley, and then set them in a very clean (bleached) bucket of water in the coolest place in the house for about 3 hours before arranging them. This does help - the stems are really turgid after those 3 hours. Maybe that was the downfall of the mockorange? I believe I've read they should make a good cut flower.

I was just thinking that perhaps variegated dogwood stems would sort of give the same effect as the goutweed (sans blooms). I believe I'll test some of that.

I made up 26 bouquets today for market tomorrow. It was a hot day today, but I was up and cutting flowers by 6, finished by 8, and was more than happy to spend the rest of the day in the basement putting the bouquets together - especially when the thermometer hit about 34C this afternoon and the wind felt even hotter. I did have to run out and cut more lady's mantle in the heat, but they seem to be okay - maybe because they were in the shade.

The Pro Cut sunflowers - the ones that I started early in the greenhouse and weathered snow and frost - are blooming this week. I planted them close together to get smaller stems and flower heads but they're still such monsters and hard to work with in a bouquet. I've got them together with Amaranthus (Velvet Curtains and Hot Biscuit).

Thanks for the tip on Iris foliage. I never thought at all to use it.

I have heard of "conditioning" the flowers before using them in a bouquet, but I haven't ever done it. Most of my arrangements seem to be a last minute idea, and I just throw together whatever I have on hand. Maybe that would be a good thing to try with the mock orange and see if they'd do any better. Maybe that's why you can get 2 days out of ferns, while I've only gotten one day. It's a lot of trial and error, and it sounds like you've done a lot of experimenting, and I'm sure your customers appreciate it. Good luck at the Farmer's Market this weekend.

Pudge, thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. I bet your customers don't even know why their bouquets last all week but they must be amazed compared to the junk they buy at Safeway.

Thanks for the good luck, Laurie. I sold out of bouquets by 10:45.

Your welcome, Gillian. I honestly think one of the best things about having flowers in the garden is cutting them to enjoy inside, as well.

I printed up little slips of 'tips to keep your bouquet fresh' and included the recipe for the home made preservative. Wow, people really liked that little extra touch. I think they are appreciating my efforts. I did have a number of repeat customers this week, and without fail they said they either just threw out their bouquet from last week or that it's still hanging on. That's what I like to hear!

BTW, I found out the ratio of sprite/7Up is 1:1 with water, and still add a few drops of bleach.

Tomorrow I'm going to trial Amaranthus Hot Biscuits (these are growing gangbusters for me) mixed with Sutherland Gold Elder to see how that combos, as well as to see how long the Elder lasts. If it works, I'm thinking it might go well with orange lilies? Or pale yellow? The Hot Biscuits, I'm finding, isn't the easiest colour to put together with anything other than sunflowers. They make a nice bouquet all on their own (if you like the colour), but the mixed bouquets sell better. Any ideas?

I've used goutweed in arrangements, as well as carrot leaves and dillweed. I like asparagus for a ferny effect, and I've seen beet leaves used very effectively for that skirt effect. I keep thinking the Bulls Blood beets would look great with their dark leaves. I just do flowers for myself, and my usual technique is to add until my vase is full, but I really love to look at the beautiful arrangements other people do. Yours looks beautiful, Laurie

Connie

Laurie your arrangement is lovely.The goutweed is a lovely addition to your flower arrangement..savona

Pudge, I have to thank you and tell everyone about the wonderful solution you use for cut flowers. I received a bouquet of alstromeria
: ) from my jr. ladies lacrosse team for coaching them this year. I got it a week ago Sunday and didn't even get them into water until late that night. They were starting to look a bit bedraggled. So, I put them and some baby's breath from my garden into your solution and by morning they were perfect. One flower lost its first petal yesterday morning and the rest still look great. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

Shauna