AY Magazine / May 2012 / P Allen: Smother Your Mother With Love

P Allen: Smother Your Mother With Love

Remember lovingly crafting gifts for Mom when you were a child? Whether it was a macaroni masterpiece or a bouquet of tissue-paper flowers, she displayed each handmade present with great pride. 

This Mother’s Day, surprise mom again with do-it-yourself flower arrangements that she’ll be delighted to show off. You’ll benefit too as you’ll have a skill you can master once I show you an easy "how-to" for making flower arrangements. I’ve also included a few of my favorite flower bouquets to share as inspirations.

 

Blue iris, velvety red roses, green pin-cushion mums and fragrant blue hycinths will brighten your mom’s day.

 

  

Place a few blush and pink roses in juice glasses on a bedside table for Mom to wake up to.

 

  

Try pink ‘Bowl of Beauty’ peonies in a white porcelain pedestal container to dress your Mother’s Day luncheon setting.

 

  

If French country is your mother’s style, fill a white container full of cottage roses for an elegant Mother’s Day arrangement.

 

Arrange apricot and mauve blush calla lilies in a stately bronze urn if your mom is a “classic.”

 

Flower Arranging 101

 

This will take a little confidence on your part, but with some roses you can do something special for mom! What I like to do is make tight clusters and create a real explosion of color and bloom. 

 

Supplies:

 

A short glass cube container • Floral snips • 1 bunch roses • 1 bunch salal or other evergreen foliage from the garden 

 

Fill your glass container halfway with water.

Using the salal, figure out what the height and cut all of the stems accordingly; remove the leaves that will sit below the rim. Place around the container. These leaves will act as a “frog” to hold the flowers in place.

Take a rose and strip all the leaves and thorns off below the level of the top of the container. Cut the stem long enough so the bloom sits high enough above the rim of the container. This then is your “model” rose; use it to cut the rest of the blooms, cutting several at a time at that same length.

Strip off the rose leaves and thorns so none of the foliage remains underwater — this breeds bacterial growth. Gather up several of your freshly-cut roses into a little cluster and place into the container.

Establish your four corners using that first cut rose as your model rose to cut all of the other roses. Place several roses in clusters at a time.

Pack the roses in all around the container.

Lastly, what I like to do is to make sure that the “edges” are “broken,” meaning: make certain all of the hard edges of the container are covered with either a blossom, petal or leaf, by gently pulling it into place.

Isn’t that beautiful? Use as the centerpiece for a Mother’s Day tablescape, and enjoy celebrating with mom on her special day.

 

Keeping Cut Flowers Fresh

 

Mother’s Day is a special holiday for gardeners, because fresh flowers are on the top of the gift-giving list. What mom doesn’t like to receive flowers? If you are the recipient of long-stemmed roses, or another type of cut flower, there are a couple of things you can do to extend the enjoyment of the gift. 

The flower preservative packets supplied by florist shops can be added to water to keep the flowers looking their best. If those aren’t available, you can mix up your own recipe. Begin by preparing a solution of lukewarm water to the same amount of lemon lime soda and a teaspoon or two of bleach. Even after a flower’s been cut, it still needs to be fed. The sugar in the lemon lime soda provides nutrients to the flower and the citric acid in the solution allows the nutrients to be taken up more efficiently. The bleach keeps the water clean. Whether you use a preservative or not, you should replace the vase water every three to four days.

Before you slip the flowers into the solution, re-cut the stems under water at a slight angle; this is particularly helpful for roses. Also strip away any leaves that fall below the water line. 

Follow these steps for any flowers you receive as a Mother’s Day gift as well as those you prepare to give as presents. Remember to keep the flowers out of direct sunlight and away from sources of heat. With these tips you can expect your cut flowers to last an extra four to five days.