Decaying Nicely

About two weeks ago I had taken all of the rose petals off of my red roses, and put them in the apothecary jar in the bathroom.  I loved the bright red color, and thought that they looked nice in the jar - they provided a good contrast against the white shelf, and they went with the color scheme of reds, browns, tans, and greens.  I was pleased.

Well, you know what they say about out of sight, out of mind...?

Today, I happened to glance over towards the apothecary jar, and noticed that the rose petals were fuzzy looking and had this weird muted tan color that definitely wasn't there when I had put them in there.  Oh, and towards the bottom, you could see moisture...

My rose petals had molded.  :-/

And so, for future reference, if you are going to create a potpourri of sorts to put into an apothecary jar, so that it will look good on a shelf, don't leave it covered unless it is ::completely:: dry.

Rose petals, even if they are beginning to die, still have moisture in them.  And when the moisture in the rose petals doesn't have anywhere to evaporate into (i.e. the air), mold forms, and a science project soon follows, quite possibly unbeknownst to the person creating the potpourri in the first place...

And now, as I'm wondering how to dispose of said rose petals, and also wondering just how hazardous this 'toxic waste' I've created is, I think I will stick to drying my flowers up-side-down, preferably hanging from the shower rod, where they can breathe and decay nicely.  :)

Not that mold isn't nice decay or anything...