How to Make Paper Roses - eHow.com

How to Make Paper Roses - eHow.com

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These roses are made from crepe paper rather than the traditional tissue paper. You'll find that crepe paper can be curled and manipulated easily with your fingers and that the ridged surface of the paper adds an interesting texture to the flower petals.
Instructions
STEP 1: Choose crepe paper for your roses. Some of the most popular colors are pink, red, yellow and white, but you can make your roses in any color you like.
STEP 2: Draw a square onto a piece of card-stock paper or cardboard. Make a rose petal shape by rounding off each interior corner of the square. You should be left with a shape that somewhat resembles a circle that is flattened at the top and bottom.
STEP 3: Draw petal shapes in at least three different sizes. Put the smaller petals at the center of your rose, the mid-sized petals at the interior and use the largest petals for the rose's exterior.
STEP 4: Add a 3/4-inch-long rectangular shape, or stub, that extends from the center bottom of each petal. This stub will be the portion of the petal that is taped to the rose's wire stem.
STEP 5: Draw a leaf shape onto a piece of card-stock paper or heavy cardboard. Make sure that the size of your leaf is in proportion to the size of your flower, and add a small stub at the bottom of your leaf shape as you did with the petal shape in step 4.
STEP 6: Cut out each petal and leaf shape from the card stock or cardboard. Make sure that you cut along the curved lines made in step 2 and along the stub that was added to each shape.
STEP 7: Place each petal shape onto the crepe paper so that the ridges on the paper run from the top to the bottom of each petal. Trace around each shape with a pencil, one at a time, and repeat until the desired number of petals has been traced. Cut out each petal shape from the crepe paper.
STEP 8: Repeat step 7 for the leaf shapes (on green crepe paper). Instead of the ridges in the crepe paper running the length of the leaf, however, position the leaf shape so that the ridges run along its width. Make three or four leaves per flower and cut out the shapes from the paper.
STEP 9: Cut a length of floral wire (16- or 18-gauge) and wrap a small petal's stub around it. Secure the petal in place with green floral tape. Take a second petal and place it so that it slightly overlaps the first. Tape this petal into place as you did the first and continue, using larger petals as you move toward the rose's exterior, until all the petals have been wrapped around the wire.
STEP 10: Use clear tape to attach your leaf shapes onto the wire. Space the leaves along the stem as desired and tape the leaves at the stubs. Start at the base of the rose and wrap green floral tape around the length of the wire. Be sure to cover the taped portions of the leaves as you wrap.
STEP 11: Bend the petals of your flower backward, if desired, and arrange the petals as desired.
Tips & Warnings
Use real or artificial rose petals and leaves as your models.
Make a total of 12 to 16 petal tracings for each rose. A fuller rose will require more petals and a rosebud will require fewer.
Create ripples along the petal edges. Gently stretch the crepe paper between your thumbs and forefingers all along each petal's edge.
Curl the petal edges backward by running the crepe paper between scissor blades (as you would with curling ribbon). Start at the center of each petal and work outward in all directions until the entire surface of the petal has been covered and all petal edges are curled backward.

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Add Old-Fashioned Beauty to your Garden

 

Add Old-Fashioned Beauty to your Garden
Peonies have an old-fashioned beauty and longevity that have made them a perennial favorite of gardeners. Before being introduced in North America, they were grown thousands of years ago in gardens across the world. There is evidence that Peonies were used for medicinal purposes in Europe over 2000 years ago and that during the reign of Emperor Yang (605-617) in China they were grown as ornamental plants. Peonies were introduced in North America during the 1830's and their popularity has only increased since then. This week we are featuring two of our favorite Peonies - 'Krinkled White' and 'Vivid Rose.'
'Krinkled White'
'Krinkled White' is a simple and classic Peony - large single, snow white petals around a pillow of rich golden stamens and green pistils. 'Krinkled White' is a nice contrast to the more common double flowering varieties. The ruffled-edge, crepe paper-like petals form a bowl shape that can reach 5 to 7 inches across. The stems are straight and strong and do not flop in the garden. 'Krinkled White' is ideal for a cut floral display. Easy-to-grow and a prolific bloomer.
'Vivid Rose'
'Vivid Rose' has large, fully double, brilliant pink blooms that actually glow in the garden! Introduced in 1952 by the renowned Klehm family, it remains a favorite of gardeners not only for its beautiful blooms, but for its delightful sweet scent. The blooms can reach up to 6 to 8 inches across. As with 'Krinkled White', 'Vivid Rose' also has stiff stems with disease-resistant, crinkled foliage that remains deep green right into autumn.
Planting and Care
Both 'Krinkled White' and 'Vivid Rose' are extremely hardy and once established, are one of the longest lived perennials available - lasting for over 50 years! Expect them to reach about 30 inches high, with the stunning display of blooms in the spring. The foliage forms a nice round clump - making the Peonies look more like shrubs than perennials. When cut in the almost-open bud stage, they open in water and last about a week indoors. Do not cut any flowers the first or second year. Be sure to cut faded flowers to prevent seed formation.
Early to mid fall is the best time to plant Peonies as it allows time for their roots to become established. Your peony will spend its first year getting established and will not be floriferous.
  • Prefers an area with full sun, but will tolerate some shade. Good drainage is essential. Alkaline soil is a preference but is not essential.
  • Mix lots of compost, such as Chesapeake Blue, into the soil at planting. Fertilize with Bulb-Tone in early spring. When planting, do not put fertilizer directly on the plant roots but into the soil away from the roots. Peonies should be lightly fertilized again after blooming.
  • Plant with the "eyes" exactly 1 1/2 inches below the soil level. Water well right after planting.
  • Mulch with 2 inches of shredded hardwood mulch after the ground has frozen. Remove the mulch in the early spring.
  • Hardy in zones 3-8.
  • Click here to view 'Krinkled White' on the Carroll Gardens website.
    Click here to view 'Vivid Rose' on the Carroll Gardens website.
    Alan Summers, president of Carroll Gardens, Inc., has over 30 years experience in gardening and landscape design. He has made Carroll Gardens one of America’s preeminent nurseries, having introduced more than 20 new perennials and woody shrubs over the years and reintroduced numerous “lost” cultivars back to American gardeners.
    Carroll Gardens publishes a weekly online newsletter written by Alan. It contains valuable gardening advice and tips and answers to customer questions.
    Every Saturday, Alan hosts a call-in gardening forum on WCBM radio - 680 AM. For those outside of the WCBM listening area, they can listen to radio show via the internet.
    Visit CarrollGardens.com to learn more.


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