Guide for Preparing Cut Flowers and House Plants for Exhibit

The Iowa State University Extension has a guide on "Preparing Cut Flowers and House Plants for Exhibits".

Link to PDF file; http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/4H464.pdf

Using floral preservative for fresh flowers

Floral Design writer for the Examiner, Susan Fogwell shares about the use of floral preservatives in prolonging the life of cut flowers. This applies to both bought flowers as well as fresh cut flowers from the garden. Floral preservatives serves dual purposes, providing food to the cut flowers in the form of sugar, and to prevent bactarial growth in the vase water. Complete article a the Examiner site>

Cut-flower gardens bring beauty inside

By ALLISON WATKINS

Friday, July 24, 2009

Nothing brightens up a room or freshens up a home more than newly picked flowers.

Many gardeners love to bring in their prized flowers by creating cut flower arrangements from their landscape plants, but a lot of us can’t afford to make that sacrifice. In many landscapes, it would require cutting down all the flowers to be able to create a good bouquet or vase, and we don’t want to give up what adds to the landscape in order to have flowers inside.

Cut flowers can provide a lot of variety and color to the inside of a home, can make nice gifts for friends or can be used for special occasions. But to have a good stock of them without devastating your landscape, a special flower-cutting garden may be required. A cut-flower garden simply is a plot of certain types of flowering plants that go well in arrangements and bouquets. Surprisingly, cut-flower gardens do not have an appealing look in the landscape.

Instead, they have more of a utility look and are best tucked away in a sunny corner of the backyard or incorporated into the vegetable garden.

There should be a wide variety of plants, including annuals, perennials and bulbs. Also, have different sizes, shapes and colors; plant an assortment ranging from long-stemmed to round flowers. Don’t forget filler flowers like baby’s breath.

Great cut flowers include plants like hyacinth, gerber daisy, shasta daisy, rudbeckia, sunflowers, cosmos, daffodil, snapdragons and marigolds. Some good things to include for fall arrangements would be chrysanthemums and autumn joy sedum.

Good flower arrangements should include some foliage plants, and these can be incorporated throughout the landscape or placed in the cut-flower garden. Ornamental grasses go well in flower arrangements, as do ferns like wood fern or holly fern.

When planting the garden, simply plant rows like a vegetable garden would be arranged. It should be located in full sun and near a water source for easy irrigating.

When cutting the flowers to bring inside, take a bucket of lukewarm water along to place the flower stems in as they are cut. It is best to pick them during the coolest part of the day, and make sure they are watered adequately and are not wilting.

Cut-flower gardens are not hard to care for; they just need regular watering and possibly fertilizer (do a soil test through the extension office to determine requirements).

Adding cut flowers to a vegetable garden is easy to do, and can be very rewarding. Be sure to consider planting some this fall.

Allison Watkins is Tom Green County Extension horticulturist. Contact her at AEWatkins@ag.tamu.edu.

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Good Flowers for Dried Decorative Displays

By Virginia Hayes
Saturday, July 25, 2009

Cut flowers are beautiful and, usually, ephemeral. A few days, a week or two at most, and they go into the compost pile. There are a few, however, with sturdy bracts, petals, or pods that stand the test of time. Here are some of the easiest to grow and dry for long-lasting floral displays.
Safflower is grown by the acre for its oil-rich seeds, but its cheery yellow flowers can last for months and months when dried. Its botanical name, Carthamus tinctorius, hints at its other usefulness as a dye plant. Sea holly (Eryngium alpinum) is a powdery blue or violet all over its spiny leaves and stems. The stiff bracts surround a cone-shaped inflorescence of tiny flowers. They are almost frilly looking, but very sturdy and make this an excellent flower for drying. The familiar strawflower (Helichrysum bracteatum), with its colorful daisy-like flower heads, comes in shades of white, yellow, orange, red, and pink and is known for its longevity. The airy sprays of statice (Limonium sinuatum) are also well-known. White, yellow, or blue and purple selections are available.

The swan flower (Asclepias fruticosa) isn't very showy in bloom, but the inflated seed pods are held on curving stems resembling the neck and head of its namesake. The pods, which are covered with tiny prickles, dry to a pale yellow and are very decorative. Another favorite that isn't grown for the fresh flowers is the money plant (Lunaria annua). Once the small flowers are gone and the flattened seed pods have split and released their seeds, translucent, round, parchment-like “coins” remain on the stem. Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) also has decorative inflated seed pods with little horns curving out of the apex and has ornamental flowers that come in shades of pink, blue, or white. The leaves are very finely divided providing the “mist” in its name. One last species known for its papery calyx, not its flowers, is called Chinese lantern plant (Physalis alkekengi). The “lanterns” are bright orange and can be picked and dried to brighten fall and winter decorations.

August Tips

• Mid to late August is the perfect time to start seeds of cool-season crops like cabbage, broccoli, and spinach. Plants will be ready to move into the garden in six to eight weeks.
• Cut back hydrangeas, leaving at least three buds on each stem. Thin out oldest canes to encourage new growth from the base.
• Divide bearded iris: dig and cut off new stems, discarding woody center of clump. Replant immediately or store in damp peat moss in a cool place.
  

Virginia Hayes, curator of Ganna Walska Lotusland, will answer your gardening questions. Address them to Gardens, The Independent, 122 W. Figueroa St., S.B., CA 93101. Send email to vahayes@lotusland.org.

Flowers for the Table: Working with Garden Flowers for Home Arrangements, with award-winning Floral Designer, Gerry Gregg, AIFD

By Jennifer Jewell

Fresh cut flowers from the garden are arguably one of the garden’s greatest joys. The are lovely, they feel luxurious and all in all they are economical. I am a cut-whatever’s-blooming-put-it-in-a-vase kind of person, and when they are available, I like to put little vases anywhere I can - on my bedside table, my childrens’ dressers, the dining room table, the counter by the kitchen sink - anywhere I can see them and smile for their being there. I am not particularly fussy: I try to remember to trim the leaves from the bottom of the stems, I sort of adjust the blossoms based on their color and height so that they come together in a generally pleasing way - and I am very happy. However, when I see the work of a good floral designer, I instinctively know the difference between my casual grouping of flowers and their artistic crafting of an arrangement. I am always amazed at how many GOOD florists are in our region, but I distinctly remember the sensation when I walked into the Enloe Foundation Gala earlier this year in Chico. I saw the soaring and floating floral displays and thought: Now that is the work of an artist. Photo: Cut flowers fresh from the garden - waiting to be arranged. Read more>

Video: Gerbera Greenhouse Production

Growing roses: Part 6 Rose garden pruning and cutting flowers

By Patti Winters
Go to Patti's Home Page
Orlando Gardening Scene Examiner

(photo by Matthias Engel)

Proper pruning and keeping flowers cut will ensure frequent blooming in your new rose garden. Keep in mind that in Central Florida, you will often see fewer petals on your roses and they may be paler in color in the hottest months of the summer.

Read more:

Flower power: scent of success for industry in bloom

Flowers from a rosarium in Russia's Penza region which are proving a huge hit in markets across the country could now be set to conquer Europe. It is all thanks to a Dutchman who has brought the know-how and technology from his homeland and adapted it to Russia's unforgiving climate.

Beautiful flowers for your cutting garden - Gladiolas

Mary Moore
Go to Mary's Home Page

Growing a cuttng garden is a very reward experience. You can fill your home with flowers, and your plants may produce so many flowers that you can share with friends. This is the first of a series on beautiful flowering plants that love the Carolinas weather and will, with a little care and attention, produce armloads of flowers that can dress up your home for years.

Gladiolas are a stunning flower. The long stems of large flowers add an air of grace and luxury to any garden or home. You would never know that this is an easy flower to grow, or that once they are established, they will reproduce, creating a lovely bed of flowers to be enjoyed year after year.

Read more:

Turn cut flowers upside down to dry

Question: My hydrangeas have been beautiful this year. Some have the big mop heads, and others are smaller but very colorful. I understand they can be dried for flower arrangements. How do you do it? Will they make good fresh arrangements?

Answer: Hydrangeas have been outstanding this year and some of the longer blooming varieties are just getting started. Some of the newer varieties have a more intense color than some of the older ones.

I am not an expert or well experienced in drying flowers. I know the West Monroe Extension Office did have a good handout on the subject. Some of the master gardeners might help you.

The cut flowers can be used in flower arrangements, and as they start to fade, they can be dried.
A starting point is to cut them, remove the leaves and hang them upside down in a dry non-windy place such as a storage shed. The flowers should dry and keep shape. The color may fade, but color may be added to make them more attractive.

Read more:

Ken Maki writes about gardening for The News-Star. To reach The Gardening Hot Line WATS line with your gardening and planting questions call 800-253-4666 or call the master gardeners at 323-2251.