How to Create an Ever-Changing Flower Arrangement

NOTE: This is your regularly scheduled Tuesday post, which I finished and walked away from yesterday, neglecting to hit the PUBLISH button. So now it’s Wednesday’s post. 🙂

Did you ever have a toothache when you were a kid and your mother told you to put an aspirin on your tooth to numb the pain?  Did you do it?  If so, just how long were you able to hold the aspirin in your mouth before spitting it out and declaring that the toothache was more tolerable than that nasty aspirin?

I called my-daughter-the-dentist today to ask her about this practice of her late grandma’s and she informed me that she has actually had patients come in with burns on their gums from trying this.  I knew it!   And this is exactly why I never made my kids do the same thing.

“What,” you say, “does this have to do with creating an Ever-Changing Flower Arrangement?”  You MUST know by now that I always get to the point eventually.

This is the first year that I’ve begun to feel like I might make it as a gardener in South Carolina.  Some of the bushes I put in two years ago are finally looking strong and the new flower bed I planted in my backyard (behind our new paver patio) is coming right along with a nice mix of perennials and annuals.

I’ve been figuring out which plants like it here in my yard and which ones don’t, as well as figuring out which plants I like best and will plant again next year.  Flowers that do well in arrangements have a much greater chance of making the cut.

Today, I want to tell you how you can make your own flower arrangements last longer by making them into ever-changing flower arrangements.

Full disclosure:  I am not a PRO.  Those of you who are professional florists may shake your heads in dismay over my arrangements but I don’t mind.  What matters most is that they make me happy.

This is an arrangement I threw together one morning in June while Mr. OTN was getting ready for work.  He was so impressed when he saw it that he oohh’d and aahh’d and told me how amazing I was, never realizing that this one arrangement had nearly wiped out our entire first crop of  flowers.

It was pretty much made up of cuttings from every single flowering bush or plant in my yard (as well as pieces of plants that never flower).

This gal had swagger.  She was the darling of the kitchen, catching your eye the moment you walked in the room and causing spontaneous smiles to break out on the faces of all who saw her.

Until that day when her most delicate flowers began to fade and droop.  I wasn’t about to let that discourage me.  Outside in the garden, more blooms were on their way, so I bravely tossed the wilters and replenished them with more fresh cut blooms.

And this was the beginning of my Ever-Changing Flower Arrangement and the idea for a new blog post!  Bloggers are always looking for ideas.

I know this probably isn’t an original idea, just like my mom’s idea of aspirin for tooth pain wasn’t original, but it was new to me!  Speaking of which, let me tell you how the aspirin ties in.

For a really long-lasting flower arrangement you’ll want to follow a few steps, one of which is using a fresh flower extender in your water.  There are a number of recipes for this, including the following:  2 T. fresh lemon juice, 1 T. sugar and 2 drops bleach, mixed into a vase of water.  Another recipe is 2 T. white vinegar and 1 T. sugar.  A third suggestion I read about was using a crushed ASPIRIN – there ya’ go – in a vase of water.

Here are a few more tips to make your flower arrangements last longer:

I enjoyed my flower arrangement for at least two weeks, until finally, I removed the few remaining flowers that never seemed to want to give up the ghost, and created a smaller arrangement.

I’m so glad you stopped by today.  I really do appreciate each one of you and the time you take to share in the simple things that make life happy. 

By the way, I want to know about that aspirin!

If you liked me please don’t forget to PIN me!

Blessings friends,

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!

Sunday:

SundaysAtHome, TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SilverPenniesSundays, RusticAndRefined, Spiritual Sundays

Monday:

IShouldBeMoppingTheFloor, TheDedicatedHouse, Dwellings, ProjectInspired,  InspireMeMonday, BetweenNapsOnThePorch, CelebrateYourStory, What Joy is Mine/Monday Musings, Darling Downs Diaries, The Art of Homemaking, MomentsOfHope, Glimpses, SittingAmongFriends

Tuesday:

TalkOfTheTown, HomeStoriesAtoZ, AStrollThruLife, CoastalCharm, CedarHillFarmhouse, TuesdaysAtOurHome, TheWinthropChronicles,  Rich Faith Rising Unite Linky, Testimony Tuesday,Cheerleaders of Faith,Tell His Story

Wednesday:

SavvySouthernStyle, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Word Filled Wednesdays, Coffee for Your Heart, MessyMarriage, ThreeWordWednesday,  WriterWednesday

Thursday:

ShareYourStyle, ImpartingGrace, EmbracingChange, HaveADailyCupOfMrsOlson, MyRepurposedLife, ADelightsomeLife, KatherinesCorner,  Thought Provoking Thursday, SincerelyPaulas, ThoughtfulThursday, Tune-inThursday

Friday:

FrenchCountryCottage, TheCharmOfHome, TheDedicatedHouseAnythingBlueFriday, ShabbyliciousFriday, Sweet Inspiration,  Faith’nFriends, Missional Women Faith Filled Fridays, Dance With Jesus FreshMarketFriday

Saturday:

FunkyJunkInteriors, OneMoreTimeEvents,  SaturdaySparks, TheInspirationGallery, Make My Saturday Sweet

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