Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct | Flower Delivery | Send Roses | Send Flowers | Yellow Roses 

Roses in the New World

by Charlie Farricielli from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct 

Of the 200 species of Wild Roses know worlkdwide, about 35 are considered indigenous to the Unites State , which makes the rose a American as apple pie. The first American species mentioned in European texts was R. virginiana; notable other species are R. Carolina, the ‘Pasture Rose’, R. setigera, the ‘Praire Rose’, R. California, R woodsii and R. palustris, the ‘Swamp Rose’. Several of these are named after their naturally selected habitat. Captain John Smith wrote about the Indians of the James River Valley who planted Wild Roses to adorn their village surroundings. In 1621, Edward Winslow, a founder of the Plymouth Colony, planted lots of fragrant white, red and Damask Roses.

Modern Roses

In 1867, the French breeder Guillot introduced a medium pink variety called ‘La France ’. This variety was considered unique in that it possessed the general habit of a Hygrid Perpetual (Mme Victor Verdier’, its seed parent) as well as the elegantly shaped buds and free-flowering character of a Tea Rose (Mme Bravy’, the pollen parent). Recognition that “La France ’ demonstrated a new group was delayed for almost thirty years of acrimonious discussion in the popular horticultural magazine of the era. Gardener’s Chronicle. Nevertheless, the first Hybrid Tea had been born! Although technical difficulties hindered the direct mimicking of Guillot’s work, practical experience over the following twenty years finally resolved the problems and rapid expansion of the Hybrid Tea class with different colors and foliage took place. Hybrid Teas, now known as Large-flowered Roses, quickly replaced Hybrid Perpetuals in popularity in gardens all over Europe and America . Planned breeding has now developed over 10,000 Hybrid Teas that demonstrate a wide range of color and blends and even stripes!

You might want to try conveying your message of love by a beautiful, fragrant bouquet of roses. Watch for more tips from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct. More Links for Rose Farm > or Visit Here

keywords: flowers, Roses, flower delivery, send roses, send flowers, yellow roses

Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct | Flower Delivery | Send Roses | Send Flowers | Yellow Roses 

by Charlie Farricielli from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct 

THE ROSE IN HISTORY

As with most plants that have long been closely associated with the history of people, the rose has become deeply ingrained in our culture and beliefs. The Romans, who originally cultivated the rose as a medicinal plant, also used the blooms to enhance their festivities.

The Greeks, however, accepted the rose as a complement to the progress of their culture. Whenever a secret meeting was held, the Greeks used roses to decorate the ceilings of their conference rooms. This indicated that everything discussed was confidential, which is the origin of the phrase sub rosa.

In fifteenth century England , roses were chosen to represent the two rival royal factions: the white rose of the House of York and the red rose of the House of Lancaster. The heraldic Tudor Rose emerged as the emblem of royalty. More recently, roses have been used as motifs to further the aspirations of political parties and national sporting teams.

Evolution of the Rose

Throughout the history of civilization, no other flower has been so immortalized and integrated into daily life as the rose. From poetry to music, from festivities to wars, Mother’s Day to St Valentine’s Day, and birth to death, the rose has held a unique role.

There are over 4000 roses listed in this monograph, and they are testimony enough to convince even the ultimate skeptic that roses have a rich tapestry of evolution stretching way back in time. Just how the genus Rosa managed to, and continues to, evolve into one of the world’s favorite flowers is an interesting horticultural puzzle. To fully appreciate the development of roses up to the present day, a brief exploration of the early history of roses before 1800 is needed.

Roses in Antiquity

Fossil remains found on a slate deposit in Colorado indicates that roses estimated 40 million years ago in North America . Other important fossil findings through the Northern Hemisphere have confirmed the very ancient existence of roses growing as far north as Alaska and Norway and as far south as Mexico . No Wild Roses have been found to grow below the equator, although roses now thrive in the Southern Hemisphere thanks to the deliberate intervention of civilization.

Where or when the genus Rosa originated is unknown in spite of the wealth of fossil studies. In theory, the early Wild Roses were most likely cultivated for their hips, which have some nutritional properties, as were their close relatives, the cherries, plums and apples. Most of these early species roses were five-petalled, pink or white with some yellows from China . As civilizations developed trade, accidental crosses of there early species started the evolutionary process as they were grown along side each other.

Mention of roses appeared frequently in the written records of early civilizations, such as those of the Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans. In 500 BC, Confucius wrote about the roses growing in the Imperial Rose Garden of the Chinese Emperor, Who also had an extensive library of books about roses. It is from such writings that we can glean a picture of rose distribution and cultivation.

The oldest rose we can identify today is Rosa gallica , which gives very fragrant flowers of deep pink to crimson followed by brick red, sub-globose or turbine hops. The exact geographical origin of R. gallica is unknown, but there are references to it by the Persians in the twelfth century BC; they regarded it as a strong symbol of love and commitment. The next identifiable rose was the very fragrant R. damasccena, which appeared in descriptive texts around 900 BC. In 50 BC a northern African variant called R. damascena semperflorens, the’Autumn Damask’. Captivated the Romans for its ability to give two bloom cycles instead of just one.

Traced back to the fifth century BC, it is believed to have resulted from a cross between R. gallica and T. moschata (the musk rose). Until the discovery and importation of China roses from the Orient in the late eighteenth century, R damascena semperflorens was the only repeat-bloomers known to the Western world.

Another rose of great historical importance was the Alba Rose, ‘White Rose of York’, the emblem of the great House of York during the fifteenth century Wars of the Roses. R. alba is probably a lot older, dating back to as early as the second century AD. In early European times, the evolution of the rose had reached a well-defined, simple family tree, which had five distinctive Old Garden Rose classiciations: Gallica, Alba, Damask, Centifolia and Moss.

Next Time Roses in the New World: You might want to try conveying your message of love by a beautiful, fragrant bouquet of roses. Watch for more tips from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct. More Links for Rose Farm > or Visit Here

keywords: flowers, Roses, flower delivery, send roses, send flowers, yellow roses

Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct | Flower Delivery | Send Roses | Send Flowers | Yellow Roses 

The Last Fifty Years by Charlie Farricielli from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct 

The early 1950s was a decisive time in the history of the rose. Gardening for leisure, rather than for food, became increasingly popular, and this coincided with the release of a new rose variety called ‘Peace’. It is difficult to convey the impact this rose had on gardeners-simply put, everybody was growing it! ‘Peace’ almost single-handedly advanced the popularity of the rose out of all proportion to any other garden plant.

In the last decade there have been many new schools of thought on the role of the rose in the garden. No longer are we subjected to endless formal flowerbeds solely devoted to this single genus. It is not that gardeners have lost their appreciation of these superb blooms, rather it is that they have discovered how wonderful roses can look when grown informally among other plants such as clematis, honeysuckles, delphiniums, lavender, spring bulbs and geraniums.

Although disease still rears its ugly head on certain occasion, the rose has become a much more adaptable plant; varieties are available that can be grown as shrubs, climbers, ground covers or in pots. Nowadays, the rose has a place in every garden, even the smallest back yard, and it is telling that the Patio Rose Sweet Dream is one of the best-selling roses today.

Next Time THE ROSE IN HISTORY : You might want to try conveying your message of love by a beautiful, fragrant bouquet of roses. Watch for more tips from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct. More Links for Rose Farm > or Visit Here

keywords: flowers, Roses, flower delivery, send roses, send flowers, yellow roses

Red Roses | Yellow Roses | Long Stem Roses | White Roses | Rose Bouquets

East Meets West by Charlie Farricielli from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct 

The introduction of roses from the Far East coincided rather neatly with the advent of modern breeding techniques. Although the sexual function of the flower, in particular the function of the anthers and stigma had been revealed in the seventeenth century, this discovery was not used in practical plant breeding for another two hundred years before this time, ‘primitive’ rose breeders would place two distinct varieties in pots together when both were in full bloom; they knew that there was a reasonable chance that the plants would cross-breed and produce seedlings with shared characteristics of the two parents.

In the early part of the nineteenth century, hybridists, primarily French amateurs, began a planned breeding program with very gratifying results. This was quickly followed up with some enthusiasm by rose-growing devotees all around the world. Soon, rose breeding without first planning the parentage became unthinkable.

The subsequent g=progeny produced were identified by groups usually names after their town or country of origin, the hybridist and, in some cases, a wealthy patron. Thus, collective terms such as Bourbons, Noisettes, Hybrid Perpetuals and Portlands came into existence with varying degrees of success. Eventually, the collective term Hybrid Teas was coined; 1867 is the date usually quoted when this modern group became a recognizable entity. Since that time, Hybrid Teas (also known as Large-flowered Roses), have progressed from strength to strength.

Next Time The Last Fifty Years : You might want to try conveying your message of love by a beautiful, fragrant bouquet of roses. Watch for more tips from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct. More Links for Rose Farm > or Visit Here

keywords: flowers, Roses, flower delivery, send roses, send flowers, yellow roses

Red Roses | Yellow Roses | Long Stem Roses | White Roses | Rose Bouquets

Roses in half-bloom Smell Best, by Charlie Farricielli from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct 

It was roses, roses all the way.” - Robert Browning

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose; By any other name would smell as sweet.”  - William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2 scene 2

Roses have a long and colorful history. According to fossil evidence, the rose is 35 million years old. Today, there are over 30,000 varieties of roses and it has the most complicated family tree of any known flower species.

The cultivation of roses most likely began in Asia around 5000 years ago. They have been part of the human experience ever since and mentions of the flower are woven into a great many tales from the ancient world.

And there are so many beautiful stories that include roses through out the ages that we all can recognize.

Greek mythology tells us that it was Aphrodite who gave the rose its name, but it was the goddess of flowers, Chloris, who created it. One day while Chloris was cleaning in the forest she found the lifeless body of a beautiful nymph. To right this wrong Chloris enlisted the help of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who gave her beauty; then called upon Dionysus, the god of wine, who added nectar to give her a sweet scent. When it was their turn the three Graces gave Chloris charm, brightness and joy. Then Zephyr, the West Wind, blew away the clouds so that Apollo, the sun god, could shine and make the flower bloom. And so the Rose was...

In another story, an ancient Hindu legend, Brahma (the creator of the world) and Vishnu (the protector of the world) argued over whether the lotus was more beautiful than the rose. Vishnu backed the rose, while Brahma supported the lotus. But Brahma had never seen a rose before and when he did he immediately recanted. As a reward Brahma created a bride for Vishnu and called her Lakshmi — she was created from 108 large and 1008 small rose petals. Several thousands of years later, on the other side of the world in Crete , there are Frescoes which date to c. 1700BC illustrating a rose with five-pedaled pink blooms. Discoveries of tombs in Egypt have revealed wreaths made with flowers, with roses among them. The wreath in the tomb of Hawara (discovered by the English archaeologist William Flinders Petrie) dates to about AD 170, and represents the oldest preserved record of a rose species still living. Roses later became synonymous with the worst excesses of the Roman Empire when the peasants were reduced to growing roses instead of food crops in order to satisfy the demands of their rulers. The emperors filled their swimming baths and fountains with rose-water and sat on carpets of rose petals for their feasts and orgies. Roses were used as confetti at celebrations, for medicinal purposes, and as a source of perfume. Heliogabalus used to enjoy showering his guests with rose petals which tumbled down from the ceiling during the festivities.

During the fifteenth century, the factions fighting to control England used the rose as a symbol. The white rose represented York , and the red rose symbolized Lancaster . Not surprisingly, the conflict between these factions became known as the War of the Roses.

In the seventeenth century roses were in such high demand that roses and rose water were considered as legal tender. In this capacity they were used as barter in the markets as well as for any payments the common people had to make to royalty.

Napoleon's wife Josephine loved roses so much she established an extensive collection at Chateau de Malmaison, an estate seven miles west of Paris . This garden of more than 250 rose varieties became the setting for Pierre Joseph Redoute's work as a botanical illustrator and it was here Redoute completed his watercolor collection "Les Rose," which is still considered one of the inest records of botanical illustration.

Cultivated roses weren’t introduced into Europe until the late eighteenth century. These introductions came from China and were repeat bloomers, making them of great interest to hybridizers who no longer had to wait once a year for their roses to bloom.

From this introduction, experts today tend to divide all roses into two groups. There are “old roses” (those cultivated in Europe before 1800) and “modern roses” (those which began to be cultivated in England and France around the turn of the 19th century).

Until the beginning of the 19th century, all roses in Europe were shades of pink or white. Our romantic symbol of the red rose first came from China around 1800. Unusual green roses arrived a few decades later.

Bright yellow roses entered the palette around 1900. It was the Frenchman Joseph Permet-Ducher who is credited with the discovery. After more than 20 years of breeding roses in a search for a hardy yellow variety, he luck changed when one day he simply stumbled across a mutant yellow flower in a field. We have had yellow and orange roses ever since

The rose is a phenomenal plant and is rightly known as ‘the world’s favorite flower’. No other flower has ever experienced the same popularity that the rose has enjoyed in the last fifth years. In temperate climates, roses are more widely grown than any other ornamental plant, and as cut flowers they are forever in fashion.

You might want to try conveying your message of love by a beautiful, fragrant bouquet of roses. Watch for more tips from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct.  More Links from Rose Farm> or visit here

Keywords: flowers, Roses, flower delivery, send roses, send flowers, yellow roses

Red Roses | Yellow Roses | Long Stem Roses | White Roses | Rose Bouquets

Roses in half-bloom Smell Best, by Charlie Farricielli from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct 

Researchers involved in fragrance research divided the rose flower into four stages - budding, early half-bloom, late half-bloom and full bloom - and made qualitative and quantitative analyses of the aromatic content at each growth stage. Taking three petals from each flower, they studied when the fragrance became the strongest.

The result was that the buds contain a high level of Dimethoxymethylbenzene, so the freshness of the green note is emphasized. For the first few minutes of the stage of early half-bloom, sweetness and freshness harmonize to produce an exquisite scent. But in the stage of late half-bloom, when the flower is considered most beautiful, the fragrance level was found to already be on the decline. Now we know that the fragrance of the rose is at its peak in the stage of early half-bloom.

The Unattainable Blue Rose

The characteristic fragrance of the rose is gorgeous and enticingly deep at once, and its shapely flower is just as charming. The ideal rose is supposed to have a "high center and pointed flower petals." Although many colors - red, white, yellow - were developed in the course of history, "Blue" remains close to impossible.

This is why "Blue Rose" means something unattainable. The Meilland family of France who are distinguished breeders attained this goal by the breeding of a blue rose named "Charles De Gaulle". Its fragrance could be described as a sophisticated mixture of the sweet Damask modern scent and a soft tea-like scent of tea roses. But the color of the flower itself is more like violet than blue.

Hybridizing to make roses more beautiful, more fragrant

The rose that was brought into Europe from Asia quickly spread throughout the continent as a symbol of luxury. Then in 1810, when the Chinese Tea Rose was shipped into England by the East Indian Company, revolutionary changes took place. Europeans were now able to enjoy a perpetual blooming of roses. People enthusiastically welcomed the four-season blooming of the Tea Rose. Tea roses were named so because they had a tea-like scent. Hybrid tea roses (HT) were produced by crossing pre-existent hybrids with tea roses. The first pink hybrid tea rose named "La France" was bred by Guillot and his son Pierre who were horticulturists of Lyon. Having witnessed the success of HTs, the breeders went on to realize their next dream that was to produce a yellow rose.

In the year 1900, another French breeder Pernet-Ducher finally came up with the "Soleil d'Or", whose deep yellow color, gracious form, pleasant scent, many buds and long-lasting bloom were highly acclaimed as the Queen of Roses.

Rose as a symbol of beauty, love and purity

The rose became a witness to love stories all over the world, as the custom developed for the bride to hold a rose bouquet that symbolizes beauty, love and purity. In the Tirol of Austria, the bridegroom offers roses to the bride. In France, on the morning of the wedding, the bride throws rose petals into a pond or a stream as a symbolic act of farewell to maiden life.

As seen here, the rose symbolizes "love" and generally conveys graceful beauty, but the yellow rose symbolizes "jealousy" which is perhaps due to its characteristic stimulating green scent.

Damask rose that symbolizes "contrasting beauty" has a rich and gorgeous scent. China rose that symbolizes "perpetually renewed beauty" has a refined scent of green violet. Japanese wild rose that symbolizes "recovery from agony" has a refreshingly sweet, powdery scent that is said to even cure the pains of unrequited love.

You might want to try conveying your message of love by a beautiful, fragrant bouquet of roses. Watch for more tips from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct

Keywords: flowers, Roses, flower delivery, send roses, send flowers, yellow roses

Romancing with Roses (Part 2) By, Charlie Farricielli from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct 
 
Roses have been my life! I have lived on the farms in Venezuela, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. I have resided and labored along side the farm workers, helping them with their everyday under-paid chores as they cultivated the most beautiful “gift of God” on the planet!
 
An aroma created only in Heaven, stunningly filled the crisp mountain air each morning in the stunning peak surrounded town of Valencia. Ah! Valencia is a sheltered suburb of Venezuela overflowing with miles and miles of orange groves and rose farms. A profound region with the savor of sweet scented and fragrant like aromatic sensations that bestowed one with such profound internal emotions of well being!
 
The Rose Farm spectacularly displayed row after glorious row of rose shrubbery brimming with color and embellishment of each vibrant living plant. I still remember every detail of those wonderful educational and inspiring days.

Roses are my passion, my love my life. I wanted to learn and explore their growing habits, the hybridizing methods, the growing environment, and most important to discover the travel desires from farm to consumer!
 
Returning home to America after months of travel and exploration was going to be a profound expieriance for me. I would get to enjoy the reaction from customers while executing this retail and wholesale marketing system and anticipate the delighted response from patrons that my collections are best products I could unearth for our unsuspecting trade consumers.
 
My plan was to have our customers value the best roses at the best price! Once again, I would selfishly enjoy their delighted reactions to my thrilling discoveries. I loved the feeling of “blowing a customers mind”! Fresh roses last so long, also emulate considerably more aroma, are crisper and more vibrant in color.
 
My inspiration worked! I sold the beautiful roses for $9.95 a dozen. With in months the word had spread! Customers would travel miles to get the quality and lower priced roses. At that time in 1982 the florists were getting a” rip-off” price of $70.00- $100.00 per dozen!

Needless to say the local florists were pretty irritated at our marketing plan. Marketing plan? No. I simply sought to show the  people of our area who never could afford to buy roses currently could now effortlessly purchase fresh cut long lasting, long stemmed roses every week. They could now afford to show their love to those around them. I also educated our customers and allowed them to comprehend they had been swindled too long by local and national florists!
 
The days were wonderful when lines of people gathered at Valentines Day, Mothers Day, everyday now became a rose holiday!

Senator Lieberman when at home in CT. would become a frequent customer and purchase a dozen for his beautiful wife Hadassah! I always used to tell him “Senator you will be president some day”! He laughed!
 
So let’s talk about another romancing idea.

A great way to give roses is to the woman in your life is to “send them to the office or work place”!

Why?

Well, when a girl receives roses at work, the romantic magic of the roses will now spread through the office like wildfire! Every one will want to know “who the flowers are from”.

Everyone will gather around the recipient and wish they had someone as thoughtful as her sender. The employees’ will want to know what the occasion is. Her friends will have feeling of happiness for her. She will be made so proud in front of the people she spends a lot of her life with.

You see roses are magical.

You made her day magic! For that moment she will feel like Cinderella! They will change the entire day of the recipient. She will now have a reminder of YOU the loving thoughtful provider. You! Emotions will magnify because of this simple yet spectacular way to send roses! She will also get remarks from fellow employees how thoughtful you are. You have sent your feelings in a dramatic way!
 
One more way to amplify this idea is to send the roses on a Monday or Tuesday the beginning of the work week. This will give her the choice to either leave them there or take them home!
 
I have experienced so many wonderful years of believing in the magic of roses. Please try this magical recipe of love and you will be so surprised of how romancing with roses changes lives.
 
This is a magical inspiration intended to exploiting the enchantment of fresh roses and love! Roses articulate love! A short story on ways to utilize roses as a vehicle of love! Watch for more tips from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct

Keywords: flowers, Roses, flower delivery, send roses, send flowers, yellow roses

The Rose! Gods gift of nature to His children to offer and illustrate love! By, Charlie Farricielli from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct
 
You know being in the rose and flower business for over 30 years has given me the astonishing opportunity to see and feel the effects that “fresh roses and fresh bouquets” have had on many of our customers friends and family.

Roses have changed lives, altered attitudes, apologized, thank you, enhanced romance, demonstrated unconditional love, advanced relationships, spectacularly improved marriages, and repaired negative family relations. You see roses are pure love.

Roses are pure positive power, they are unadulterated beauty. Roses are an untainted natural gift from God.

I created the slogan in one of our flower commercials that said it all.

“We send Love! We send Feelings!

Yes let me explain that roses are love. They are proof of love. Giving of roses is a feeling; inner self gratification and feeling of love that you have given to someone who you have made feel so extraordinary and loved!

You see roses create a feeling of love for you; the giver; and overwhelmingly so for the unsuspecting recipient! It’s been truly amazing through out my 30+ years, how I have witnessed these inconceivable circumstances over and over. It has enhanced my life to a surprising degree as well. I feel so much a part of the enrichment to the life’s of people that I have revealed a way to help them make their lives better with the giving of roses. Roses are magical!

Roses are the Secret of The Ages!

I have so much information to discuss on how to romance with roses that I will begin this part one series of many more to follow and discuss my beliefs and profound breakthroughs!

Giving and receiving feelings of love, adornment, and simple caring acts through benevolent of the fresh rose. Also the Miraculous attracting love powers of the Rose, and the effect and influence of the enchanting aromas of the rose. I will write about the secret of a Single rose and how to utilize its science with demonstrating the feeling of love.
 
 
Romancing with Roses ~ "Secret One"
 
I have discovered one of the best ways to give a dozen of fresh roses to your lover is to SURPRISE HER and give with out a reason and simply give just as a random act of kindness with love!

Happy Monday!

Thanks for just being you!

Just to let you know I will always love you!

Thank you for being the mother of our children!

These roses are overflowing with the love burning in my heart for you!

You are my life!

You are all my dreams come true!

You are the light of my life!

Just say what you feel in your heart for that moment! Expect the adoring recipient to feel it! It doesn’t matter what it is at that moment as long as it is overflowing with your unconditional love in your words!

You will never expect the delightful results from this way of showing your love!

I promise you it will be magic! The loved beneficiary will respond in ways you have never known! Anything that has love emotionally involved to roses will be magic! Watch for more tips from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct

Keywords: flowers, Roses, flower delivery, send roses, send flowers, yellow roses

There is something so beautifully wholesome and rich about this project, taking rose petals and concentrating their loveliness into hand-worked beads.

The end result is a fragrant, aromatic and compact set of beads that you can string and use for adornment, prayer or meditation. Rose petal beads would make a dazzlingly romantic gift, as well as a fantastic way to reprocess the petals from roses you receive (it's so sad to see them in the trash).

Simple Clarification
 
Strings of beads have been used for prayer and meditation for ages, they help to center and focus. Scented objects such as rosaries have also been used in many religions. On feast days, early Christian priests wore garlands of rosebuds or beads made from rose petals, ground and blended with fixatives into an aromatic paste, then rolled into balls and pierced with a needle. It is a lovely idea to make an object to hold during meditation practice, and most people find that it helps to focus.

Here is a method inspired by a 18th-century recipe for rose petal beads that will yield lovely, scented beads that are surprisingly hard and durable. You will need nothing more than rose petals (red and fragrant are recommended), water, a saucepan and a needle or hanger, plus string for stringing.

1. Gather the roses and chop the petals as finely as you can. Put them in a saucepan and barely cover with water. (If you have a cast iron skillet, the iron will impart a lovely deep hue to the beads.)

2. Heat for an hour but do not let it boil. Repeat this for three or four days and if necessary, add more water. It is important to never let the water boil but to warm it up each day over a moderate heat.

3. When the petals have reached the consistency of clay, you are ready to start the beads. Place the mixture in a colander or sieve and press out as much water as possible.

4. Make the beads by working the pulp with the fingers into balls. When they dry they will shrink by about half, so you can start big.

5. When thoroughly well worked and fairly dry, press on to a bodkin (a long needle, or you can use thick wire or a metal hanger) to make holes in the center of each beads.

Until they are perfectly dry the beads have to be moved on the bodkin from time to time or they will be difficult to remove without breaking them. When dry, remove and string them. Have fun, give as gift's. Do with your children as a GREAT family craft project.

Watch for more tips from Rose Farm Buy Farm Fresh Grower Direct