Herself's Houseplants

I recently attended a talk on tiny flower arrangements by Iris Leon, owner of Pod Flower Design. All the flower arrangements in the photos are under 8″x8″x8″. If you look closely you’ll recognize, candle holders, tea light holders, sushi sauce dishes as some of the containers.

Here are some tips on small flower arrangements:
1. Herbs make great sources for small flowers. The flowers are small, many have small leaves and you have the benefit of the lovely scent from many of them.

2. Floral tack is a great help. You can buy it at your local craft store. It comes in rolls and is thin and sticky. You can mount your green foam on your container with it.

3. Floral tape comes in green and clear. Clear is good for glass containers. One or two strips across your foam to the container will hold your foam in place and the clear won’t show. Do not cover all of the foam, it interferes too much with flower placement. You need all of the space on the foam for small arrangements.

4. Soak your green foam first and then just spray your arrangement with water and it should last a week.

5. Use flowers in bud not open for a longer arrangement.

6. Use tweezers to insert the stems into the foam, your fingers are too large.

7. Do not poke holes in the foam first. You’ll need every bit of that foam space.

8. Work on your creations at the same level they will be viewed from.

9. When bending leaves and grass for the more modern arrangements warm them up first and they will be less likely to crack or break on you.

10. Needlepoint plastic also works well. You can cut it to fit inside your container and insert your stems into the plastic holes.

Predatory underwater plant

January 18, 2009–An oddity among oddities, this newly discovered carnivorous sea squirt traps fish and other prey in its funnel-like front section, scientists announced today. Most of the 2,000 or so known sea squirt species are filter feeders that strain plankton from seawater.

Tethered to the seafloor 13,143 feet (4,006 meters) underwater, the 20-inch (50-centimeter) sea squirt, or ascidian, is one of the deepest-dwelling animals ever found in Australia. The new species is one of many new deep-sea creatures discovered on a recent expedition that used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) near southern Tasmania, Australia. . . . [ read more and see more photos Bizarre Species Found, Predatory Squirt

See also:
Research Cruise blog
Scientists think ‘killer petunias’ should join ranks of carnivorous plants