Many people look at Valentine's Day as an excuse for frivolous commercial consumerism to take hold and win over the hearts of those who claim ours. Though there may be some slight truth to this, the true sentiment of a gift lies in preserving its longevity. Flowers, a beautifully organic way to show that you can't stop thinking about someone, sadly never last more than a few days. With a bit of craft and a little "TLC" there are a few ways to make those precious blooms thrive past their prime.
Roses, the quintessential pick for this hallmark holiday, usually have a lifespan of a week if treated properly. The first and most important step to keeping them vibrant begins with continually refreshing the water every two days and trimming the ends off of the stem at a 45 degree angle just as often in order to keep air bubbles and eroding bacteria from ruining the rose.
The bouquet should never be placed in cold water for the shock of temperature could kill it. Instead, place the bouquet in lukewarm water mimicking the warm soil that it was extracted from. Once submerged and away from sunlight, remove any excess leaves or dying petals for they will only weigh down the head of the flower and cause it to eventually break of the steam.
Most florists will give a small packet of floral preservatives to add to the water, which acts as a life support to the rose, giving back its needed nutrients that were lost during transition. Unfortunately those packets run out after their first use and the flowers are left with nothing else to take in other than water. Thankfully there are a few home remedies that can fix this minor glitch.
One method is to take one part lemon-lime soda to three parts water. For every quart of this solution, add one-fourth teaspoon of bleach. Afterwards, add another one-fourth teaspoon of bleach every four days.
Another alternative is to take two ounces of Listerine mouthwash for every gallon of water. The Listerine contains sugar and bactericide, two key components found in the floral preservation packets given by florist. The Listerine is acidic which is said to help the water maneuver its way up its steam.
The most interesting of the natural methods, is placing a penny at the bottom of your vase with a table of aspirin. The idea behind this method is that the penny acts as a fungicide and the aspirin makes the water more acidic.
Unfortunately even our best efforts cannot keep a flower from its inevitable fate of slowly wilting. At this point, one can remember the sentiment of these luscious roses through memory and the re-telling of stories of when your Valentine presented you with a dozen roses or they can be physically preserved by either leaving them to hanging dry or by placing them between a press.
Leaving your roses to air-dry is quiet easy and takes little time and surface. Take the bundle and wrap a string around the bottoms of the stems and turn them upside down leaving them untouched for two weeks so all the moisture can be evaporated.
Pressing your flowers is just as easy but a few more materials are needed. If you don't own a press, a phone book or another book of equal weight will make due. Each flower must be placed carefully so they do not overlap and place a sheet of cardboard down so they will not stick to the book acting as the press.
To some, this holiday weekend will thankfully be over soon enough and forgotten about until it causes us agony again next year. Whichever stance you take on this notoriously hated-upon day, it is nice to known that a small gesture still goes a long way and treating the things that are dear to you can always be persevered either in memory or with the help of a penny and some aspirin.
