by Patricia Bunch

Created on: February 17, 2009   Last Updated: February 21, 2009

Roses fade, flowers wither and die. How mournful does that sound? Nothing at all like someone who may have just received a lovely crystal vase filled with the grandest of blossoms meant to shower one with romantic gestures of love. Flowers will do just that, die. There are however ways to capture their beauty for memories to last long after the scent of the blooms have disintegrated.

For the scrapbook makers, pick out some of the prettiest flowers in your bouquet and arrange them in a pleasing arrangement on the scanner. One has better results using a scanner in a dark closet since the lid cannot be closed on the flowers. I use photo paper and use the settings on my computer to copy the picture of the flowers I have arranged on the scanner in the highest quality possible. The three dimensional look of the flowers truly captures their beauty. Even if you don't scrapbook, you have a beautiful picture of some of your flowers.

One of my favorite ways to dry flowers is with paper toweling between the pages of heavy books. I dry with the stems and leaves intact. Be very careful to lay the flower carefully onto thick layer of paper toweling in the middle of a large book. I use encyclopedias. After I have the flower positioned carefully, making sure the leaves aren't crimped, I apply another thick layer of paper towels and carefully close the book. I leave for several weeks without disturbing. When the flowers are dry, one excellent way to display them is to position them between two pieces of glass and frame in a picture frame and hang on the wall. Flowers dried and displayed in this manner add artwork to a plain wall inside your home and it is precious to you, giving you a reason to smile when you view it daily.

There are always more than enough flowers in a bouquet of cut flowers to use for both the purposes I have mentioned. When the bouquet, be it roses or carnations, cut spring flowers or other flowers, are dead, the question is, what are you going to do with them when they aren't pretty anymore. Ultimately, they must be discarded into the compost pile, and if you don't compost, the trash will be their final resting place. One can delay the day when the flowers are discarded by making them into potpourri or scented sachets.

It is the memory in the heart one can hold on to forever, and the love from whomever gave them, hopefully. You still have the pictures and the memories, and the lovely crystal vase. If your vase wasn't crystal and you don't need it for cut flowers from your garden this season, donate it to a charity. Let the organic matter return from whence it came, back to mother earth.

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