Care & Growing
How to get your cut flowers to last longer:
There is nothing like having a beautiful bunch of fresh blooms in your home, which instantly lifts your mood. Here are a few guidelines to help these blooms last even longer.
Basic steps:
- 1When you purchase/pick your blooms strip any foliage off the stems that could be submerged into the water as it prevents any bacteria growth.
- 2Trim the stems diagonally as it encourages the flowers to drink up water.
- 3Refresh the vase with clean water every 2 to 3 days and again remove any dead heads or leaves that may be contaminating the water. Trim the stems again slightly to encourage hydration.
- 4Never overfill the vase with water as it only needs to be enough to help hydrate the plant — the more water you fill the vase with, the soggier the stems of the flowers will be.
- 5Keep the flowers in a cool spot that doesn't receive direct sunlight.
An important tip: Never place your flowers next to fruit bowls especially bananas as fruit releases ethane gas as they ripen which shortens the life span of the flowers.
Easy homemade flower food:
This is a great way to preserve your flowers and feed them at the same time:
Mix the following together:
- 1 litre of water
- 1 Teaspoon Vinegar
- 1 Teaspoon sugar
- 3–5 drops of household bleach
Mix the ingredients together and store it, pour a necessary amount into the vase each time.
Once your blooms begin to fade:
Sadly, a cut flower does have a lifespan and once the bloom starts to fade in colour and begin to droop one thinks its time to get rid of it but alas there is one last step you can do to push the flowers for their last performance.
This is called scalding (it sounds worse than what it truly is haha)
- 1Remove the blooms from the vase of water.
- 2Wash the vase and refill with water and place to the side.
- 3Place boiling water in a heatproof dish.
- 4Trim the base of your stems and then place 2cm of the stem into the boiling hot water for roughly 30 seconds.
- 5Immediately place the stems back into the clean, refreshed vase of water.
This allows the stems to absorb more water and perk up, happy as Larry.