Let Me Show You A Little Secret-Met Monday

After a very busy four days, I'm finally able to sit down and write a few things. I decided that I would join Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch for my first Met Monday. Please check out the other blog links, you will be amazed at how talented some of our blog friends are. What I am doing barely qualifies, but it is transforming something to something "better"!

I have a love/hate relationship with poinsettias. I got married 3 days after Christmas, a long, long time ago. My bridesmaids carried pink poinsettias, so they are very special to me. What I've never really enjoyed is the "typical" potted poinsettia. It always reminds me of something I would have taken my grandmother or my piano teacher. I've mentioned before that I used to help a good friend who was a florist on holidays. I learned a little secret about poinsettias that I have been using ever since. Now, I love the way they look!

It all starts with a basic poinsettia plant. This one came from our local farm store for $5.99, it had 5 huge blooms. Any color will do, or it is beautiful if you mix the colors.

The next thing you need is a vase. I like to use something in the bottom of mine. These are glass stones with just a hint of green to them. My vase was about 10 inches. It could easily have been larger, but I didn't want much height for what I was doing.

I suggest you put down newspaper before you continue. I didn't this time and I had a bit of a mess to clean up. Cut the blooms off of the plant down near the base so that you have a bloom on a long stem. Poinsettias have a milky sap that really isn't poisonous, but don't eat it anyway! The sap will drip where the stem is cut and anywhere you strip a leaf off. I remove most of the bottom leaves from each stem.

Now the important step. Using a lighter or a match, torch the cut part of the stem for a few seconds. The sap will bubble and the stem may even blacken a little. This seals the stem.

Arrange the blooms in your vase, just as you would any other cut flower. Let the vase sit on the newspaper for a while until the sap stops running from the leaf cuts.

My blooms were so large, I really should have gone with a taller vase. Seeing the pictures, I may change that. The poinsettias will stay fresh in water for several days as long as you have the stem sealed. We used to take all of the blooms that would break off the various colors of plants when we unpacked them and make big bouquets with all the colors. It was gorgeous and makes a wonderful, unusual and inexpensive centerpiece for your Christmas table. This isn't the best picture...but, it does introduce you to our very spoiled "child" of the house. She is 13 1/2 and still going strong. You also get a peek at the tree. There will be more about it coming soon. In this picture it looks as if it only has 2 ornaments!