Real Staying Power

Last Friday when Hubby Tony met me at the train station he was holding a plastic box tied with red ribbon. The box contained a single tightly-closed, long-stemmed red rose and a small sprig of baby's breath. (I was beyond shocked. He's never done anything like that before.) I was surprised and touched, then practicality set in. Without water the flower wouldn't stand a chance! Tony pointed out the small water tube at the bottom of the stem and said the florist had told him it would be OK.

The rose

The rose stayed in the hot car all afternoon.  It was cloudy, so I didn't have to worry about keeping it out of the sun. When we got to the hotel room I opened up the box and added some more water to the tube. The next morning I closed the box back up, and the rose rode for almost eight hours with me.  This day was sunny, so I kept it on the floor of the passenger seat.

When we got home I couldn't find a small enough vase, so after I cut the stem I placed the rose in plastic water bottle.  To class it up I tied the ribbon around the bottle.  The cats love roses, too, so I set the makeshift vase on the fireplace mantel in the family room where they couldn't get to it.  I admired it every time I went into the family room, and a couple of nights I remembered to bring it into the kitchen at and set it on the table at dinner time.

A week later it's still going strong.

Didn't it open beautifully?