How to Care Fresh Flowers

Fresh flowers will only look good for so long, but here are a few tips to make sure that’s for as long as possible!

   1. Flowers love fresh water. Make sure your vase is clean and replace the water every few days. This stops bacteria from blocking the water vessels.
   2. Cut the stems. As soon as a cut stem is exposed to the air it starts to close.
   3. Cut stems under water if you can. If not, get them into water as soon as you snip them. Use a sharp knife rather scissors (scissors can squash the water vessels) and cut stems on an angle in order to create as much surface area for the stem to suck up the water. Repeat every few days.
   4. Strip all leaves on the stem below the waterline. Wet leaves breed bugs, as well as releasing phenols, chemicals that clog the stem, slow budding and wither the blooms. They also tend to go mushy and smell!
   5. Spray flowers with a cool mist. The beads of moisture look pretty too.
   6. Give your flowers some fresh air. Flowers are sensitive to a natural chemical called ethylene. Keep them away from fruit, fungus and rubbish and give them good air circulation (not drafts).
   7. Add extra life for your flowers in your water.  Common ways to help flowers last longer include adding a sprinkle of sugar, a brass coin and a drop of lemonade to the water.
   8. Keep poisonous sap separated. The sap of daffodils and narcissi is poisonous to other flowers. Either display them separately or keep them in water on their own for at least 12 hours before mixing with other flowers.
   9. Remove pollen that stains. Avoid getting pollen stains on your clothes or furniture by cutting out pollen stamens in flowers such as lilies.
  10. Talk to your flowers. Well, they say that talking to plants helps their growth! If nothing else, it’s relaxing.

Posted in Flower Guide & Tips