Running for the Roses! (Mint & Red Rose Kitchen Bouquet)

This morning, I stepped outside my back door and was greeted with the presence of my beautiful Don Juan climbing rose (grafted onto Fortuiana rootstock because of zone 9b) covered in blooms.  It made my morning!

Who wouldn't be happy waking up to that?  I figured I'd bring the outdoors in, to celebrate spring a bit more!  Here's how to make a very simple arrangement, very quickly, out of your backyard.  

What you need:

• Rose Bush (Or other flowering plant that's pretty)
• Greenery - I used Mint out of my herb garden
• Ramekin - deeper is better; mine is about 3-4 inches high
• Scotch Tape
• Water
• Garden Clippers

You'll note, I also decided to time myself; I did time taking photos so it would be shorter without photographing every step.  I also assembled supplies before starting timer; here's a watering can, ramekin, timer, scotch tape and garden clippers:

On to cut the greenery.  Mint grows in abundance in my herb garden area.  I just let it go; it tends to creep and take over...

Here it is infiltrating the raised bed full of spent pea vine:

I snagged a few shoots; I also cut 5 roses off the bush...

Here are my clippings inside...I decided to add dishcloths to my supply list....We are at 4 min 20 seconds here:

I then put two pieces of scotch tape across the ramekin, forming an "x", and filled it halfway with water.

Next I pulled the leaves off the roses and trimmed the steps to a shorter length, assembling them in the ramekin:

Adding the last of the roses:

There are 5 rose blossoms in the ramekin; timer is at 7:25 min:

Next, I began trimming down the mint, removing excess leaves from the bottom of the stem and then cutting the stem to the right height to complement the roses.  

Here we go, all assembled; I added in about 5 stalks of mint between the roses, where it seemed to make the most sense:

It looks great on the counter in our under-construction kitchen:

Clean up?  A breeze - simply discard the remnants that were gathered on dish rag; total project time, 11:21 minutes WITH photography!

Notes:  Mint is grown organically, I do not add any fertilizers.  Roses do seem to do better with a fertilizer; it's in a very separate plot from everything else.  Also, don't mess around with placing the flowers too much - they generally look good in the first spot you put them!