Fresh flowers truly brighten my mood. Waking up next to a vase of tulips starts my day off right. Opening my front door to a bouquet of pretty purple irises just makes me smile. The obvious downsides to my love affair with fresh-cut flowers is their hefty price-tag and short life span. For these reasons, I wanted to learn how to make the most out of my occasional flower indulgences.

I searched the web for information and inspiration, starting with choosing the perfect vessel. The blog Pollen Nation by online florist Serenata flowers had this one completely covered. This comprehensive post features eight main rules for choosing the proper vase.

While anyone can plop flowers into a vase, a florist knows the key to making a beautiful arrangement. I wanted to see how it was done, so I searched YouTube for a quick video how-to. I learned some simple tricks watching Meghan Carter of AskTheDecorator.com receive a lesson from floral designer Vickie Wenstrup.

After finding the perfect vase and laboring over the arrangement, I don’t want my flowers going limp too soon. Check out these 15 tips that will make cut flowers last longer on DoItYourself.com. — Erica P.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 5:47 am and is filed under collecting, decorating, favorites, gardening, giving, surfing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.