A numpty

... that is not the name of this gorgeous rose but it describes me a few days ago.

On Friday I received a wonderful bouquet of soft yellow roses for Mother's Day from my daughter and family, sent by a very reputable store. They were beautifully packaged and I dutifully followed the instructions about snipping the stems and putting them in the water with the flower food. The only slight problem was that I was suspicious of the flower food as it turned out to be blue granules. Not having received roses for ...... well, a very long time ...... it thought that perhaps this was a new type of food. i put the roses into a large white ceramic vase and they looked stunning. The next day, however, it was a very different story. Almost half of the roses had drooped at the neck and many of the others were looking very sad. I looked into the water and it was blue ... heaven alone knows why I thought the blue granules would dissolve and become colourless!! Anyway I realised that I had indeed been a numpty and the granules were not flower food at all. I was so ashamed that i couldn't phone my daughter, so I phoned the shop instead and a very helpful and sympathetic young man assured me that it was entirely their problem for not including the correct flower food with the roses. He insisted that I accept a new delivery ..... I accepted with alacrity!

These gorgeous roses are my new Mother's Day gift and they arrived this time with two sachets - one of flower food and one of blue granules which were (now i realise) designed to keep the flowers fresh during delivery. When i had related my sad tale to a friend at the week end she advised me to cut about an inch off the stems at a 45' angle and then immerse these in boiling water for a minute before placing in the vase. I have dutifully done all this and the flowers are still looking gorgeous!!