The roses of May, the biggest and bestblooms of the year, transform Los Altos for a few glorious weeksevery spring. Fences, porches and gates overflow with blossomsof every color, tempting us to buy just a few more rose bushesfor our own garden – there’s no such thing as too many roses.
Why not try a few tricks to make your roses last longer? With very little effort, you can prolong the enchantment bybringing roses indoors for fresh arrangements or for drying, pressingor even microwaving.
The best time to pick garden roses is early morning or justbefore dark: you want the blossoms at their peak of dewy freshness. Cut each rose stem just above a cluster of three or five leaves,so that a new, flower-bearing stem will emerge at the cut.
As soon as you return indoors (or before you go outdoors),prepare a jug or bucket of very warm water. Then cut a smallbit off the end of each rose stem (some people do this under water)and immediately plunge it into the water. Ideally, leave thestems in the cooling water overnight, a process called conditioning, to give them the longest possible vase life. However, even anhour or two in warm water (which of course cools down as the rosescondition) makes a big difference in how long a rose arrangementlasts.
Mysteriously, some roses last and last and others quicklycollapse into shapeless blobs, even after careful conditioning. Various fanatics swear by adding everything from aspirin to ginto the water in an arrangement in order to prolong rose life,but I’ve found the hot water method works as well as anythingelse.
When arranging roses, remove all leaves that might be coveredby water (to keep the water fresher) and always keep at leastseveral inches of water in your vase. If you use flower arrangingfoam, keep the foam very wet. Finally, if you have the time andenergy, change the water every two days, cutting off another littlepiece from the bottom of each stem.
To dry roses, strip off most of the leaves and gather thestems into a bunch with a rubber band. Hang upside down in acool, dark location (the garage will do) by hooking one end ofa bent paper clip under the rubber band and the other end overa wall nail. White roses tend to yellow or brown and coloredroses become paler when dried, but all roses acquire a slightlywrinkled antique charm. Use them for wreath- and garland-making,or for gluing to napkin rings, topiary shapes or picture frames. Tiny buds or petals from miniature rose bushes can be pressedin books between sheets of facial tissue (weight the book withmore books or even bricks) or placed under area rugs between sheetsof waxed paper. After two or three weeks of pressing (or beingwalked upon), the flowers and foliage are ready for gluing ontostationery, greeting cards, bottles (to make decorated vases)or candles.
Use white glue to attach rosebuds and foliage to attractivebottles and then add a top coat of polyurethane with a small sponge.
The polyurethane both preserves and enhances the flower colors.
Use the same method to glue rosebuds and other flowers onto candles,but preserve the candle design by dipping the candle into meltedwhite paraffin for a few seconds.
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