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" Here are some great tips to share from a seminar called Flowers of the World on how to design flowers:   There are two kinds of stems: hard and soft. With hard stems, like hydrangeas, you want to open up the stems so the flower can drink up more water. To do that, simply scrape off the outer layer of the stem with a knife or sheers. And hard-stemmed flowers drink through their petals, too \u2014 so spritz the flowers with water to keep them looking fresh.   Soft stem flowers, like calla lilies, are too fragile to scrape the stems. But their stems are pliable, so you can do fun things with them. (Monica, our stylist, turned calla lilies into bows. Run your fingers from the flower down the stem to loosen up the stem. Then you can easily wind the stem into round shapes \u2014 use floral twine or wired raffia to wrap around the stem and hold its shape.)  Other tips:  Remove all foliage that falls below the waterline, otherwise it will rot and shorten the life of your flowers.   Use long tropical leaves to conceal stems. (You can see one in my arrangement below.) To make the leaf work inside your vase, first you have to make it more pliable by thinning the spine. You can scrape off the thickness of the spine with a knife. Then just roll it up and stick inside your vase of water. You may need to snip any leaf overflow sticking above your vase, depending on the size of your container.  Use waterproof tape to create a grid over the top of your vase. This will help keep your flowers standing upright \u2014 since one common problem with making arrangements is getting the grouping to stand together.  Always start with greens to provide the support base for your flowers. Then start adding flowers (if you have a big bunch, like hydrangeas, start with the big flowers first). Keep turning your vase as you go so you evenly distribute the flowers everywhere. Stick your flowers in at an angle.   With these flower design at your fingertips, your flowers should last all week! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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