PRESERVING ROWERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19009, 3 November 1923, Page 3

PRESERVING ROWERS.

Cut flowers may be preserved for some months if they are put away in air-tight boxes after the stems have been dipped in hot wax. The flowers should be gathered in bud and the petals tied with thread. The ends of the stems are then dipped in the wax, the flowers wrapped in tissue paper, each one separately, and put away in a tin box which is quite air-tight. When required for use the waxed ends of the stems are cut off and the blooms placed in a basin of cold water to which a little salt has been added. The basin should stand in a warm place for a few hours, when the buds will develop. Rose buds respond most successfully to this treatment, but much depends upon gathering the flowers when they are quite dry and keeping the petals free from water during the revival process. The box in which the flowers are stored should be kept at an even temperature, but not in a very warm place. Some people are very successful in preserving flowers in this way and others are not. But it can bo done quite easily with care, and is worth the trouble when flowers arc plentiful in the garden. If gathered in early autumn they may be preserved until well into the winter.