Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Start the day with coffee - and a bouquet

By Times Staff, Wires
Published November 10, 2007

Researchers at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital confirmed that study participants reported being happier and more energetic after seeing flowers first thing in the morning, especially in the kitchen. Flowers positively affect people emotionally at home, causing them to feel less anxious and more compassionate, the study showed. Participants reported an energy boost that lasted through the day.

Put those study results to the test

To create that top-o'-the-morning feeling (see above), try this cheery arrangement, above. You'll need a clear glass or acrylic coffee canister; enough whole coffee beans to fill it; a deep votive candle holder; 16 blooms (about four stems) of yellow daisy chrysanthemums; three stems of bear grass; and a rubber band.

- Fill the canister three-quarters full with coffee beans. Set the votive glass atop the beans. Fill around the votive with more beans. Pour water treated with flower food/preservative into the votive glass.

- Hold the flowers just under their blooms and create a round bouquet. Rubber-band it together and cut stems to about 4 inches. Remove leaves.

- Cut bear grass into 8-inch lengths and make loops over the flowers, catching each end in the rubber band. Set in the votive glass.

Variations in the meaning of 'mulch'

Word of the Week is mulch, a gardening term that originally referred to manure, straw or leaves laid over new plant roots to hold moisture. Next, young roots were "mulched" to prevent damage from frost heaves. Now it is also used as compost tilled into the soil, supplying organisms necessary for plants to thrive.

Hey, no cranberry sauce or leftovers?

A Thanksgiving garden note: The harvest of 1621, when the first Thanksgiving was celebrated, was no great shakes, according to the Web site encarta.com. The barley, wheat and peas the Pilgrims brought from England failed. The corn crop did well, thanks to the Wampanoag leader Squanto, who showed the Pilgrims how to plant and fertilize it. The Pilgrims didn't have enough food to feed their guests, so Wampanoag chief Massasoit sent his men home for supplies. Perhaps this started the "bring a dish to share" tradition.

The versatile mum has many accents

The chrysanthemum is the queen of fall flowers, the National Chrysanthemum Society says. It's also popular for corsages worn at football games, and its longevity makes it great for bouquets. But in many European countries the chrysanthemum is known as the death flower. In Belgium and Austria, the mum is used almost exclusively on graves.

[Last modified November 8, 2007, 17:40:16]