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.

You can place a drinking glass or glass jar in another container, clear or not and fill the space between them with cranberries, pretty stones or just about anything small to create a seasonal flower vase.

For the holidays, fill the space with cranberries and put water and red roses in the glass as an example.

I recently attended a talk on flower arranging and here are some things I learned that you might not know:

If you are using green florists foam in an arrangement you should soak it for 24 hours before using it.

Cut sunflowers should be given hot water ( about a hot shower temperature ) and lots of it, they are thirsty flowers.

Cut roses under warm water, and on a diagonal.

Cut tuberose needs sugar water for the flowers to open, use 2 to 3 cups of sugar water in vase.

Christmas trees should also be given hot water ( hot shower temperature ) it loosens up the sap and they will take up more water after the initial cut if it is hot. Your tree should soak up 5 to 8 gallons of water the first day and less thereafter.

Use the flower preservatives that come with your cut flowers as directed. And use an anti-desiccant on your cut flowers for longer life. Both can be obtained online or at your favorite florist.

Candles should be burned a bit before placing out. Never ever place unburned candles ( those with wicks still white ) in a display. Some consider it bad manners, candles should show you are ready for hospitality.