Flower Tips

Step class was great. Jess completely kicked our butt's last night which always makes me feel good. There's something to be said for working up a great sweat while keeping time with great, loud dance music. Gives a nice break to my mommy side.

As promised, here are the top secret flower tips I learned.

• Of course, you probably already know to cut the stems diagonally and immediately put them in water or even cut them in water. This one is pretty basic.
• Here's one that blew me away: When working with roses, soak them in really hot tap water up to the neck for 3-4 hours to super hydrate them and make them last longer. Take them out and spritz the petals with water.
• Table top guideline: When making a table top flower arrangement pay attention to height. Put your elbow on the table with your hand straight up in the air. The length from your elbow to your wrist is the tallest the flower arrangement should reach. Any taller and you're going to have a hard time conversing across the table.
• To find a good rose, feel the base of the flower. If it's hard it should last longer.
• If you don't have a flower food packet you can make your own with a drop of bleach and a pinch of sugar added to the water. Bleach keeps the bacteria down and the sugar is great food for the flowers.
• Also, no leaves below the water line. This makes the water foul.

Enjoy! There were many more great tips, but for the sake of time and space I'll stop here.