Like a lot of collectors, I’m a gardener and flower arranger. I look for unusual flower containers and holders (flower frogs). At the Burton flea market, there was a strange top for a Mason jar at a booth filled with bottles. Instead of a flat round piece inserted into the screw-on rim to seal the jar, it had a wire mesh. It was used to convert a canning jar into a flower vase. I bought it for $2.95. A few weeks later, I saw the same idea in a gift catalog labeled “Flower Arranging Made Simple. Price, $9.95 plus shipping.” Old Masons and other canning jars have many uses and many adaptations. I gave a party with centerpieces of Mason jars filled with bundles of dry spaghetti. A friend freezes margaritas in an ordinary Mason jar. When you take it out of the freezer, it is slushy and just right to stir with a spoon. Online you can find 3 1/2 inch Mason jar salt and pepper shakers, tiny jars to use as shot glasses, and jars with added handles to use as 16-ounce mugs.

 

 The last few geraniums from the garden look fine held in place by the new Mason jar flower frog in an old jar.