In some strange way there is something comforting in the symbolism of the flowers which will die, as pointed out to me by Eeva-Liisa. Every day I clean the vases and give the flowers fresh water. I cut a few mm off the bottoms of all the stems, and snip off the dead or wilted blossoms - all just trying to make the flowers last longer in this heat but yet knowing they will die anyway despite all my efforts. (This is my kitchen compost container - a 2 litre ice cream container that I use for all my banana skins and veggie peelings so I only have to go out to the compost bins once a day)