Our Best Flower Care Tips: Make Your Flowers Last!

Our Best Flower Care Tips: Make Your Flowers Last!

Fresh flowers make any space look prettier, brighter, and more cheerful -- it’s true! But their freshness and beauty are fleeting once cut, and in a few days to a week, they can start losing their magic. However, with proper flower care, you can prolong their life (and magic!) by days.

What do you do to make them last? Follow our detailed flower care guide below, and enjoy your fresh blooms longer!

Choosing Your Flowers

If you’re shopping for an arrangement for your home or office, it’s essential to know what to look for when purchasing blossoms that will stay florist-fresh longer.

1. Budding flowers. Choose flowers that are only beginning to bloom instead of fully open ones. Don’t worry, they’ll continue to open if you put them in a vase full of water. Pass on flowers with petals that are transparent, wilting, or turning brown. Loose pollen inside the blossoms also indicates that they were already past prime when cut.

2. Firm leaves. The leaves of the flowers should be firm and look green and fresh. Don’t buy flowers with leaves that are sagging, speckled, brown, or have holes in them. The holes indicate that there were insects infesting the plant before it was cut, while the speckling shows the presence of bacteria in the leaves.

3. Long lifespan. Some flowers that last much longer than others, so you don’t need to keep replacing your floral arrangements. Examples of these are chrysanthemums, zinnias, carnations, freesias, and sunflowers.

4. Mixes well with others. Some variations of flowers exude toxins into the water that can wilt others next to them. The narcissus family of flowers (jonquils, daffodils, narcissus) is certainly beautiful. However, their mucous and lycorine toxine can damage other flower varieties if you keep them together without preconditioning the narcissus flowers first.

Preparing your Floral Arrangement

Once you’ve brought home your flowers, or right after the flower delivery person has given them to you, do these next few steps to make sure you’ll be appreciating your blooms for a longer than usual time.

1. Clean your vase. The first step to proper flower care is cleaning the vessel thoroughly to ensure that no bacteria is present to accelerate the aging process of your flowers. You can try filling your container with hot water, dropping a few drops of bleach, and letting it stand for a few hours. Scrub and rinse well.

2. Prune the leaves and buds. All buds and leaves below the waterline will rot and promote the growth of bacteria.

3. Cut the stems. Use garden shears or scissors to prune about one or two inches off the stems at a 45-degree angle. The angle cut allows the flowers to absorb water better since they aren’t standing flat on the vase’s bottom.

When you cut, keep the ends under running water to prevent air pockets from forming in the stems. Quickly put them in a water-filled vase after.

4. Add flower food. Dissolve some plant food specifically made for cut-flower in the water to feed your flowers. Since some flower foods also contain anti-bacterial treatment, they can help keep your water clean too.

5. Precondition. As mentioned above, some flowers don’t play well with others unless you precondition them. Leave these flowers sitting in clean water in a different vase for a few hours to dissolve excess mucilage and dilute the toxins. Don’t cut the stems again before you add them in with the other flowers, or you risk releasing more of the mucilage.

Maintaining Your Flowers’ Freshness

Now that you’ve prepared your flowers, it’s time to make sure you do these following steps to get the most out of your blooms.

1. Remove wilted stems. Keep an eye out for your flowers and remove fallen leaves and petals. Retrim your stems every few days (two to four days).

2. Change the water. Plants are thirsty and will need plenty of water. You can top up the water level daily, but it will need to be changed completely every two to four days.

3. Keep away from sunlight, heat, and fruit. Sunlight, heat, and the ethylene released by ripe fruit will cause your flowers’ colors to fade quickly before their time.

Flower Care Hacks and Tips

There are many other simple ways you can extend the beauty of your blooms. Below are some tried and tested hacks and tips that you can add to your flower care routine.

1. Use the fridge. At night, before bed, pop in your floral arrangement in the fridge and then take them out again in the morning. It’s similar to what florists do because the cool temperature will slow down the aging process.

2. Pour soda. A ½ cup of soda mixed in with a vase full of fresh blooms will make the flowers last much longer. The sugar nourishes the plants and makes them thrive and looking freshly-cut even days later.

3. Add some vodka. A few drops of the clear spirit added to your flower’s water will slow down the wilting process.

Prettify Your Home With Flowers That Last

You don’t need a special occasion to enjoy fresh blossoms. Just an appreciation for these beautiful things from nature is enough reason.

Call us at (509) 921-7673 for your very own floral arrangement today!