Maggie's Farm

Mrs. BD loves flowers and all that - she and her pals call it "plant material" because they use all sorts of things in their design efforts.

Often, however, she will just toss flowers in a vase without too much design except basic color coordination and texture variation, and it is very pleasant.

Here are her tips to keep cut flowers looking good in water for a week or more:

- A fresh sharp cut to each stem at a 45 degree angle, and warm water

- 1 tsp of bleach per quart of water (prevents rotten, cloudy water which destroys the blooms)

- 1 tablespoon of sugar per quart of water (feeds the flowers - they aren't dead yet)

- Never let a leaf be submerged - but you can submerge blooms if you want for cool effects. You can submerge Hosta leaves too.