My 4 year old son gives roses to his teacher at Valentines day. I go to Costco and pick up a bunch of roses. I then put each rose in a plastic tube with water. I get clear plastic wrap (sold in wrapping paper section at Target, etc.) and cut a large square. I lay a colored tissue paper to match on top of the plastic. (Make sure your roses are not wet or the color of the tissue paper will run.) Lay the rose in the center. Fold one side over, the bottom up and the final side over and around. Tie with ribbon. Attach a card. Hope this makes sense. Michaels Craft Store sells the little plastic tubes you can fill with water. But are a touch expensive without the 40% off coupon. I like the idea about approaching a florist...tell them you are a school teacher and they will likely sell them to you for cheap. All these supplies can be bought for cheap but in bulk at a florist supply store. But to get the wholesale price you would need a resale license. Maybe a freind has one.

Thanks for the comments! Jan, I'm sure your GFH is much prettier than mine, but I love mine too. I am really finding myself drawn to the watermark styles this year especially... Karen, Your favs in this group are actually some of my favs in my garden. You can't beat the oldies like BP though to make a dramatic statement! Barb, although it is an "oldie", I wouldn't be without BP! It is so stunning and just blooms and blooms! Rita, My Wisest of Wizards ( and Gift From Heaven too if you are familiar with it ) are perfect examples of why I have to be careful of the DL's I order. Our climate washes out a lot of the coloring and edges on many blooms... you should see my version of Julie Newmar... beautiful, but nothing like it is when grown in warmer weather. I love my versions, but they tend to be far less dramatic than a lot of the pics I see posted! Tom, If you like the color and form of YEH, just add to that that it is aprox 8", and she is a wower! And my GFH is nice, but again, the pics I have seen from others are way more dramatic. I love mine though! And Jean, thanks! WofW is new to me this year, and has only had about four blossoms on it but I am very fond of it. Julie

Thanks for all your kind remarks----Yes I do love to sit by these windows----This is the room we added when we moved the kitchen to the front of the house so I could have sun in the morning. I love all the cobalt blue bottles and the Blue Willow dishes---- the roses are---Abe Darby----Zeffy---Viking Queen--Grace and a Tiffany bud. They are gone now but sure did smell delicious. Florence

Glad you're safe...guess it can get scary, something we don't have to worry up here.