Decadence

Gardenias

There is something decadent about gardenias.  Perhaps it's their hypnotic smell, or maybe it's because they look like living whipped cream just plopped in this bowl, but whenever they are blooming in my garden I tend to linger in their corner longer than usual, lulled into a stupor by their overt sensuality. 

The trick to keeping them blemish free as long as possible is to never touch the petals with your hands.  It hastens their demise.  So it's a bit of a trick to get them to "float" properly in a vase like this.  I tried using some black polished stones to grab the stems to keep them from flopping around and it seemed to work pretty well.