Roses will last for two to seven days, depending on the stage at which they are cut, and on the season. Other flowers have only one season, but roses are available throughout the year. Yet, despite their relatively short-lasting properties, the whole world still regards the rose as possessing everything that goes to make the perfect flower. It is the flower demanded for all special occasions; it always has been so.

Beauty is a composite quality. In any individual flower there are many contributing factors, the chief being colour and form. The flower may be of any colour, but this must be pleasing, either as a self-colour or as a colour combination. Form may be conventionally concentric as in dahlias, zinnias, and calendulas, looser as in carnations, azaleas, some camellias, and some chrysanthemums, or of an asymmetrical structure peculiar to that one type of flower, as in violets, pansies, sweet peas, antirrhinums, and irises. Each is beautiful in its own way.

All roses are concentric and either of the conventional spiral, or of loose form. Many are spiral in their early stages and loose as half-open flowers. Any flower that is normally concentric is enhanced by spiral arrangement of its petals, provided it is not made up of a multitude of petals amounting to solidity and coarseness.

Design

In the same way as Nature varies her arrangement of petals in flowers, so can we vary our use of flowers, not only for many purposes, but in diverse ways for each purpose. It is the effect gained that matters, and not the material used or the method adopted in arriving at that effect.

The more beautiful the integral parts of a floral arrangement, the easier it is to achieve a pleasing effect, but good arrangement of poorer material can often surpass less artistic handling of perfect specimen blooms. This is the real test of a floral artist

Containers

Flower containers should be subservient to the blooms and of simple shapes, with firm bases and good capacity for water. Occasionally a bowl or vase of distinctive colouring may be desirable, but only for roses of one variety of a dominant colouring. Opaque vessels are to be preferred because they conceal the stems. The old-fashioned silver rose-bowl has almost disappeared. Any accessories used should be subordinate to the flowers and their arrangement.

Cutting Blooms

For decorative uses, full-petalled roses may be left on the plant until half open, but the thinner types are best cut when only the outer petals have unfolded. Some roses lose their colour and freshness more quickly than others after cutting. Many of the reds and deeper pinks "blue" fairly quickly.

The apricot and other fancy colours often look drab after a very few hours, and should be cut as late as possible before they are to be displayed for any special occasion. White or yellow roses improve after cutting, the white becoming whiter and the yellow deepening in colour in much the same way as blooms covered for show purposes.

Wilting is due to water's evaporating faster than it is being taken up by the stalk. When a rose is cut from the plant, air immediately enters the small spaces at the end of the stem. This air remains there when the cut end is placed in water, and obstructs the suction of water into the stem.

Recutting of the stems under water before the blooms are arranged will allow water, instead of air, to enter the new cut and will greatly increase the lasting properties of flowers. Only about a quarter of an inch need be clipped from each stem.

Using the above techniques, roses can be brought inside and will enhance any table-setting. Enjoy!