Winter flowers are precious. Should they stay to brighten the garden, or come inside? How many blooms can you spare to take on a visit to Great Aunt Agatha? What are the best cut flowers at this time of year?, How should you keep them blooming for at least a fortnight, and what's the best way to arrange them?
I follow the "bung" flower arranging method: pick a handful of blooms and bung them in a vase, either my tall brown one, the fatter clear glass one or the thin-necked brass one, each the right size to have the outside blooms leaning over the edge a little and the middle ones standing up straight. It takes three seconds, and our flowers usually last about two weeks.
This is because I know how to pick flowers, even if my arranging skills are lacking. Pluck your blooms in the early morning, and choose buds that are just opening.
Strip off all lower leaves which will rot once they are covered in water, plus as many higher ones as possible, so the stems have less to support.
Don't use secateurs, just snap the stem. Secateurs make a nice straight cut. 'Snapping' usually breaks the stem at an angle, allowing more water to penetrate once the flowers are in a vase.
I've also planted species that are not only easily arranged, but that last well in vases indoors, with a choice of flowers in bloom for every time of the year. Just now these are mid-winter's camellias, hellebores and Paperwhite jonquils.
Admittedly it took me years to work out how to make a vase full of camellias last a fortnight, as well as how to make a handful of camellia stems obey when I bung them in a vase. They then became my fifth-favourite cut flower.
Firstly, choose the right camellia species. Sasanqua early blooms lose their petals after a couple of days. Reticulatas have the most splendiferously enormous blooms, but there's too much "bloom" and not enough stem to support it for long in a vase.
Which leaves good old Camellia Japonica. If you're not a gardener, your beloved Canberra camellia is most likely to be a Japonica. If you are buying new ones, for pots or in the ground, go for varieties that are "double" - a single layer of petals dries out faster and will drop. Avoid varieties that show their yellow stamens too as birds love them and they also lose their petals far too soon indoors.
Pick your camellias when the buds are just opening, just as you would with any other cut flower, and don't forget to leaf strip, too. You'll probably have two or three buds on each stem.
Now find a hammer, rock, rolling pin, soft ball bat or other blunt instrument, and give the ends a good bashing. We're talking "almost pulp" here. That helps the stems take up water.
The usual advice is to change the vase water every day, as camellias' thick stems and fat blooms need a lot of water, and water that contains flower stems soon becomes gungy. Please do this if you are orderly, dedicated, and have time to spare emptying a vase every day.
Instead I put only enough water in the vase to just cover the bashed bit of stem. I add fresh water every day, diluting the gunge. I also add a used tea bag or two - the tannin retards the growth of algae - or use one of the homemade flower extenders (recipe at the end of this article).
And for the next trick - criss-cross the vase with sticky tape, then insert the flower stems. The sticky tape will keep the flowers in perfect position, and can't be seen under the profusion of petals. You have now successfully "bunged" a vase full of camellias. Remember that Japonicas bloom in shade in winter's freezing temperatures, so don't put the vase by the heater or a sunny windowsill. Remember to give the flowers a small drink every few days when you make your morning coffee or have 30 seconds to spare. The flowers won't open at the same time, so pick up fallen petals, or ignore them, and snip off any bloom that is past its prime.
If you must show off your reticulatas - and I admit I have one bush that I do show off - choose a shallow bowl, and use the sticky tape, but just balance the flower on the tape instead of using it to support the stems. Insert enough flowers to fill the bowl. How big a bowl? The same size as a piece of string.
Hellebores became my fourth-favourite cut flower as soon as I realised they look far more dramatic in a vase than on the bush, though the new spotted and striped blooms are pretty fabulous outside too. Pick the entire stem, and bung them in a vase of water. They should last at least a week with no other attention, or a fortnight if you change the water. Try the "add a little water" trick, or add flower extender.
And for my second-favourite cut flower- Paperwhite jonquils, and then the slightly later blooming Earlicheers and finally the double yellow daffodils, which contrary to all expectations are the ones that survived three months of bushfire heat and five years of drought. Pick when you can just see the colour of the petals on the bud.
MORE JACKIE FRENCH:
Jonquils and daffs are sneaky cut flowers. The stems exude a substance that's toxic to other flowers, as well as humans, dogs, cats, guinea pigs - so put the used water down the sink, not in the pet's bowl or bird bath. Never use them as decorations on a cake.
If you desperately want to add daffs or jonquils to a bouquet, put them in water for 24 hours first. They'll still exude a bit, and anyway, they look fabulous just by themselves, or with ferns or a few small branches of bay leaves.
The hollow stems of jonquils and daffodils form a kind of plug after a day or so, which helps to stop the stems rotting. The flowers will last a week if you do nothing, but putting in just enough water to cover the end of the stems, then adding more every day or two really extends their life, as does holding them over the sink once a day and cutting of the ends with scissors, then giving them fresh water and a well washed vase, a trick I have often read about but never tried.
It's much easier just to let your jonquils fade, then pick another bunch. They will perfume the room and your life.
My third- and first-favourite cut flowers? Number three is Birthday Candles banksias, which sadly I no longer have. Roses are my first love, of course, like 95 per cent of garden lovers. But despite a single bloom on the climbing Souvenir de la Malmaison outside my study window, I'll have to wait for spring for those.
Use lemonade for a quarter of the vase water, or any soft drink if the vase is opaque. Even left over cola does the trick. A good strong cup of lemon cordial works well too. The sugar will help feed the flowers, and the drink's acid will inhibit gunge growth. Half a teaspoon of bleach to every litre of liquid will make the flower extender even more effective.
If you virtuously don't have any leftover soft drink and don't drink cordial, add two tablespoons of sugar and two tablespoons of white vinegar or lemon juice to a litre of water, plus the half teaspoon of bleach. If you haven't got any of the three ingredients, just add one of them - it will help.
Don't bother with a copper coin - it won't exude enough copper to make a difference. Soluble aspirin won't help either. And to be honest, I rarely bother with flower extender. It is far easier to just grow lots, so I can pick a handful on my morning mooch around the garden, discreetly disposing of the dead flowers behind the camellias.
