Tips for the home florist
Take good care of your cut flowers, no matter whether you picked them from nature, the garden or the florist’s. You’ll be able to enjoy their beauty longer.
Cut flower care
Cut flowers usually last from one to two weeks in a vase. You can extend the vase life of a bouquet or an arrangement with these tips:
- Regularly replace the water with clean fresh water and wash the vase with a mild detergent
- Keep the flowers away from direct sunlight
- Move the flowers to a slightly cooler place for the night
When changing the water, you can cut the stems to create new absorption surfaces. You should also cut away any wilting flowers, which will make the other flowers look fresh.
If the flowers in a bouquet or an arrangement are developing at different rates, and some flowers are still looking good, you can place the flowers in single-flower vases or dry them to be used as dried flowers. This extends the life of your flowers, which is part of responsible flower consumption.
- Cut a new absorption surface on the stems. You can cut crossed notches at the ends of woody branches with flower scissors to make the absorption surface larger.
- Use a cut flower preservative in the water to extend the life of the flowers.
- Place the flowers in a vase one by one, tie a bouquet of the flowers, or create an arrangement in a holder pin or with chicken wire.
- Check to ensure that there is enough water in the vase so that all the stems are properly immersed in the water. In general, the amount of water should be at least two-thirds of the size of the vase. Only a little water is added for bulbous flowers, as their stems grow in length in plenty of water.
Right water temperature
As a rule, lukewarm water is suitable for flowers, but bulbous flowers thrive in cool water. Warm water will make bulbous flowers open, and the bloom develop faster, while cool water slows down the development of bulbous flowers. Warmer water should be used for plants with woody stems such as roses. If you are using both soft-stemmed flowers and woody branches in an arrangement, put lukewarm water in the container. Allow the flowers to stand in the water for around an hour and properly absorb the water into the stems before starting to create a floral arrangement.
Refreshing flowers
It’s advisable to trim flowers picked in the yard or purchased in a store to remove excess leaves, and to refresh the flowers. Refreshing is easy: Cut a new absorption surface on the stem. This will enable the flowers to better absorb water in the vase. At a florist’s, you can find readily pre-treated and refreshed flowers, with extra leaves already removed from their stems.
