Here's a question from a reader I hope someone can help with:

Question: I have a lot of silk flower arrangements along with silk plants and one huge 8 foot tree.  How can I go about cleaning them?  I tried the vacuum and it sucked some of the flowers and leaves off the arrangements.  Not good!

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 a lot of them will tolerate a swish in the sink.  first blow off the dust with a blowdryer set on cool or low, or you'll get mud!  put the big ones in the shower, or spray them with the hose outside.  i've even put them out in the rain for a rinse- hey, it's free!

The ladies on How Clean is Your House? put silk flowers in a brown paper sack with 1/2 c of household table salt.  Then they folded the bag over a couple times and shook everything around.  On the show it worked really well and most of their stuff has worked for me with those "odd" cleaning jobs.

 Mom would put most of hers in the sink.  Canned air works as does a vapor steamer.

Spray them with a chlorine-free surfactant and set them in the rain on a cloudy day, so they won't fade. Occasional windy-day airing works for dusting.  Let nature take its course.

I use the table salt trick too  ... my Sister in  Law does hers with a combo of salt and corn meal ..  I tired some  canned air once sneezed for a week .