Of course, you needn't wait till flowers are fading to snip them off. Cutting just as they begin to open also encourages more flowers, and gives you fresh material to arrange indoors. Here's an idea from the Netherlands Bulb Flower Information Centre: Use watermelons, gourds, squashes, pumpkins and even bell peppers as vases. Cut a hole in the top or one side of the fruit, perhaps giving the incision a zigzag edge. Scoop out the pulp and seeds, making sure you don't pierce the bottom. The shell that remains is a watertight vase that's especially suitable for a centrepiece. When the flowers fade, just toss them into the compost pile, vase and all.
Tin snippets
Don't "leaf" your plants' identities to memory -- keep tabs on them with embossed metal markers you can make yourself.
Supplies
• Tooling foil or 32-gauge aluminum sheet*
• 18-gauge wire*
• Embossing tool, such as knitting needle or hard lead pencil
• Needle-nose pliers with wire cutters
• Tin snips or old scissors
• Awl or hammer and nail
• Fine-tip black permanent marker
• Ruler, compass and set square (optional)
• Paper and newspaper
*Available at some hardware and art and craft supply stores
Instructions
1. With marker and using ruler, compass and set square or drawing freehand, outline simple shape, such as circle, square, triangle, oval or heart, on foil; with tin snips, cut out.
2. Trace shape onto paper; cut out. On paper cutout, write centred plant name and surround with border of lines, swirls and/or dots, if desired. Turn over and place against window; trace design onto wrong side.
3. Cover work surface with newspaper stacked approx 2.5 cm (1 in) thick. Place paper cutout, wrong side up, on foil so edges match. With embossing tool, firmly retrace design; discard paper.
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