WHEN AND HOW TO CUT FLOWERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 852, 21 December 1929, Page 38

WHEN AND HOW TO CUT FLOWERS

Rare floral gems have their special attraction for the gardener, but flowers of the “cut and come again” variety will always be sure of popularity, chiefly because they can be used for indoor decoration, or can be cut and given away to friends, without in any way robbing the garden. Sweet peas, coreopsis, geums, roses, snapdragons and others are among the plants which give us ’more and more blooms, if they are constantly picked before they develop seeds. But these flowers, to give the greatest amount of satisfaction, must be cut with care and understanding. It is generally accepted that the best time to cut flowers is in the early morning, before the dew has gone from them. If this cannot be done, the next best tim,e to cut is in the late evening. Flowers cut at this time should be immediately put into water, and allowed to remain there until the morning before being arranged in vases, or before being sent by post. The petals of flowers should not be allowed to stand in water, but if the flowers are of the type which soon droop their heads, they may be immersed up to the neck in water, a tall vessel being used for the purpose. All flowers begin to fade when the process of fertilisation has taken place. It follows, therefore, that if

flowers are plucked before they are open, and brought indoors, where insects are less likely to find them, and where fertilisation is delayed in consequence; they will last better than those plucked when fully open, whose postils have already received the pollen from other blooms. Poppies are remarkable in this respect. A full-blown poppy will last, perhaps, only an hour, but a poppy cut in the early morning, just as the green sepals are bursting from the flower head, will last for three or four days In the vases. Poppies that have been carried a distance should have the ends of their stalks cut under water when they are being arranged. Roses are best cut in the bud, not only because their beauty is generally best before they are full-blown, but because they frequently lose their colour more in the sunshine" than indoors. To-cut them with short stalks is a mistake. Long stalks are a great asset in arranging decorations, and, in addition, roses of the hybrid tea types that are pruned back after flowering will usually yield a second crop j of bloom. One good bud low down on the flower stalk, i.e., just above Its union with the main stem, is sufficient to leave for the second crop of flowers. , Occasionally flowers, such as Clarkias, tend to droop their tips when cut for indoor decoration. The trouble can in some cases be avoided by the simple method of pulling the plants up by the roots instead of cutting the stems. Clarkias pulled in this way will last well in the flower vases, and the same process could be adopted with other annuals. Of flowers that are specially suitable for cutting, which could be grown in special masses, or rows in the vegetable plot, some of the prime favourites are Coreopsis, stocks, love-in-a-mist, gypsophila, sweet peas, dwarf sunflowers and sweet scabious (annuals), and among the perennials, linaria, coreopsis, single dahlias, chrysanthemums, gladioli, gerbera, carnations and pinks.