I was so inspired by Holly Becker’s post on Decor8 last week that I bought some flowers for the house this weekend. My little hangup is I feel like the house needs to be clean if I’m going to invest in fresh flowers, so I had a fabulous Saturday evening of housecleaning while Dave recovered from minor surgery. I bought some tulips, because all this rain is making me long for spring, and another flower that I don’t know the name of, but which looks like a muscular heather. Anybody know what it’s called? When I put the tulips in the vase they were a little too droopy, so I tried the old trick of dropping a penny in the water. Within an hour, they were standing straight up. I googled and wikipedia’d the phenomenon trying to figure out why this works so well, but the only straight answer I could come up with is that the oxidation of the penny reduces algae growth in the water. That doesn’t seem like the right answer. So it remains a mystery, but if you ever want to get your tulip stems to stand at attention, try a penny.
7 COMMENTS
Linda B
16 years agoWhat a beautiful idea for this dreary time of year. I never heard of the penny trick, just the aspirin in the water trick.
live a colorful life
16 years agoSuch a pretty color! I never heard of the penny trick either, but I'll sure give it a try!
decor8
16 years agoOh these are beautiful and I love your photos – great angles!
Anonymous
16 years agoHi, Jen! Kris again [from Minneapolis]. Had to comment on the penny thing. Being a bio geek, the copper in the penny gives off a gas, which makes teeny tiny bubbles, which travel up either the xylem or phloem and makes the tulip stem more dense and firm. Missed you at Christmas – we were out of town. Love the picture of the huge tree up on the Rose Garden hill. 🙂
monaluna
16 years agoWow, Kris – thanks for the explanation! I've been curious about that for ages. Hopefully I'll see you in the 'hood this summer. 🙂
Linda – I've never heard of putting aspirin in the water… what does that do?
And Holly – hello, and thanks for your fabulous blog! You are so inspiring!
Dana Charette
16 years agoThese photos are amazing, are they from your new camera??
Flowernflorist
16 years agoInvestment for a fresh flower japan can be more than the investment you did when you purchased your home. I haven't seen that beauty before how and where can I find these flowers in Japan especially this pink penny flower