HERB - platina and table decorations

[Sheron Buchele/Curtis Rowland]

Gentle Cousin,

Please be aware that many flowers depend on daylength to flower.  You can
fake day length with artificial lights - that's how many of the
professionals do it - but some flowers are more sensitive to spurious light
than others.  IIRC poinsettia's flowering cycle is upset by the equivent of
the light of 1 candle for just a few minutes.  

However, you can easily force bulbs and have wonderful flowers for your
tables.  They are temperature dependant and need weeks of cold to trigger
blooms.  Many of them will take being cut and scattered on tables without
water for hours cheerfully.  Bulb flowers can be very tough - they have to
be to survive the time of year that they flower.

I won't go into the specifics, but check with your local greenhouse for
info.  BTW, they will tell you to toss the bulbs after forcing.  Don't!  It
may take a year or two for the bulb to get back to flowering, but I have
had good luck.  When you cut the flowers, leave as much of the greenry as
you can.  Harden off the plant and then put it in the ground.  Give it some
compost or fertilizer a couple of times before the greenry dies.

Sounds cool!  I always try to make sure the tables are decorated when I do
feasts.  It is really neat to do the period ceremony of laying the cloth
and then dressing the table after people are seated.

Leonora who must go make herbal vinegar today!!!  Frost is coming.....



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