It all started with It’s all about the arrangement (psst….even with last week’s roses), my first blog post.  This original blog post was one of those ideas born out of an upcycling strategy and week-old roses.  The idea was to take last week’s open but slightly wilted roses and enjoy the blossoms in another arrangement, floating the wilting blossom heads to straighten them out and enjoy them in another way.

Don buys roses just about every Erev Shabbos (Sabbath eve) and I try to create original arrangements for the Shabbos table from these roses.   These roses  are sold right in front of our synagogue by a member of our community.  These roses have thick stems and  high quality blossoms and come in a variety of colors.  They really last a full week and with these upcycled arrangements, I can get at least one more week and sometimes two weeks of added enjoyment from each rose bouquet.

This week, I was setting the table for a weekday dinner and still had some lanterns on the kitchen table from a goodbye barbecue that we had hosted for one of Leah’s friends last week.   Sitting next to the lanterns, were the variegated roses from last Shabbos.  Most of the blossoms were still gorgeous,  but the stems were already starting to droop, making the flowers appear wilted.

I cut the roses off their stems, cutting them right below each blossom.  I placed a single rose blossom in each of six square glass vases and bowls.  I interspersed the lanterns with the roses and stood back to admire the newest upcycled arrangement.

Here it is: