Pick-me-up

I have always bought flowers into our home when we entertain or have company.   Sometimes the flowers catch my eye in the grocery and I buy them “just because”.  A few months ago, I purchased some flowers for the specific purpose to cheer myself up.  Nothing fancy, I just felt a connection between needing a little pick-me-up and the flowers that greeted me as I entered the store.   Last week, I saw an article on the internet about an actual psychological study on the effect of flowers and mood.  Jeannette Haviland-Jones, PhD, director of the Human Development Lab at Rutgers University found “flowers have immediate and long-term positive effects on reactions, mood, social behaviors and even memory for both males and females.”   She went on to say, “All age groups in the study exhibited emotions of extraordinary delight and gratitude after receiving flowers, encouraging more positive behavior in social activity—such as eye contact and sincere smiling.  The mere presence of flowers in subjects’ homes led to increased contact with friends and family, indicating that we share with our loved ones when happy emotions are triggered.  Flowers are a natural mood booster with direct long-term positive effects on emotional well-being.”    Now, that’s pill worth taking!

I encourage you to add flowers to your next grocery list.  Let them do their work of cheering and inspiring your family and bringing you closer together.

Your flowers need a little maintenance in the days after you arrange them.  The water should be changed and the stems trimmed a little to allow more water to get to the blooms.  This also gives you the opportunity to tweak the arrangement and study your flowers.   As I changed the water in my flowers today, I remembered a tip for helping the flowers stay fresh.  Add one teaspoon of bleach to a quart of water.  Sounds odd, but the bleach keeps bacteria from growing in the water.  Also, make sure no greenery is in the water—just stems.  

Look at the lily that has just opened!  I thought these lilies had brown spots, but these are actually a deep purplish-pink.  Lovely!  This calls for a different vase—this dark pink one allows the flowers room  to find their own space and the color compliments the pinks.

This is the bud which greets me in the morning and says good night at the end of the day.