CUT FLOWERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19470, 28 October 1926, Page 5

CUT FLOWERS.

o The life of fresh flowers depends on several things. The best results from the home garden come from cutting the stems on a slant with a sharp knife or with proper garden shears. Do your cutting very early in the morning or late in the evening. The morning is better, says a writer in an exchange. Also a bucket of water should be on hand in which each bloom should be immediately plnnged well np the ful! length of the stem. Then after being taken into the house they should be left in a cool, dark place for an hour. Both poppies and dahlias, flowers that. many people are nnable to keep fresh enough for decoration, if gathered in this way, and preferably when in bud ready to burst or only half open, will last a number of daysOnly too often flowers are carelessly broken off in the heat of the day and carried aronnd the garden tightly clasped ill warm hands. Moreover, they aro often thus passed on to visitors, to be carried some distance; but in either case they begin to wilt before they can be arranged. If the flowers were placed for only a few moments in a jar or can of water kept conveniently at hand in the garden for the purpose, they would at once draw up into the stems enough water to keep them from wilting. Then if the ends were wrapped in a p'ece of wet newspaper and protected from hot air and sun by an outer covering of dry paper they could well bo expected to last for days. Roses at the time of being arranged should have the thorns and at least part of the leaves that aro under water removed in order to mako more openings and then be immersed fully two-thirds their length, as the drawing power of a rose is not as graat as most floweris. I often have been able to keep them nico for a wook by managing this way during the day, and then laying them flat in the original packing box, with each stem wrapped in wet paper or cotton, and placing them in a cool place at night. Tims the water was able to reach clear to the bloom. Flowers with a hard, woody stwu should have an inch of the outer covering or bark removed from the end and the stem slit a little way, besides being gashed in several places to open mwo channels for circulation. Flowering shrubs particularly deserve this special atiientioD besides being plunged into water immediately after being cut.