A touch of spring....

Hi Lovies,

  I am so excited to share with you that my lilac bushes are in full bloom, they are an heirloom variety of dwarf bushes that yield a ton of very fragrant pale purple blooms that last for only a week before they start to turn. So the time to enjoy them is short and precious...

 Having said that I wanted to share my secret to keeping cut blooms at there best for longer....

  Starting with how you cut your blooms. Making sure you are using sharp shears start trimming from the base of a bloom under the Y of the stem at a clean angle being being careful to set them gently on a soft surface such as your lawn as you cut a bunch large enough to fill your vase with both blooms and foliage.......

 Gather your vase, super fine sugar, water serving spoon, shears and blooms in one place......

 Make sure to fill your vase no more than 2/3 of the way with clean room temperature water, it is important that the water is room temp or it will shock your blooms and shorten there vase life. Next we add the sugar, 1 heaping serving spoon of super fine sugar ( most table sugar is super fine ) and stir until completely dissolved...

  Now we cut the blooms....making sure to keep stems under room temperature running water cut at a clean angle... (see pic below)

  And we are now ready for the fun part.....arranging your blooms. Remove any leaves that will end up being under the vase water, this is very important as they will begin to break down and spoil your water causing your blooms to wilt and spoil sooner.....always remember to change your vase water daily, if it isn't clean enough for you to drink it's not clean enough for them either...

  Don't be put off by blooms being crooked or a funny shape they can give your vase a shabby quality and make it so much more interesting and beautiful than a perfectly round arrangement....the only rule you will need to follow is the "rule of odd numbers" everything looks more pleasing when grouped in odd numbers and flowers are no exception...remember foliage is your friend it can really help you fill any open spaces left by your imperfect stems...

  All that's left is to enjoy the intoxicating fresh cut flower scent that fills the room....lilac season is heavenly....

Luv ya,

E.