Often when we share flower care tips and tricks with our clients, friends and family their reaction is surprised. There are the obvious "basic" things we need to do, but there are many other tricks that, while instinctive to us as florists, are brand new information to many others. So we decided it was time to share with you all the little things we do to keep our flowers at home looking vibrant and alive for longer, and the techniques we use when we visit our clients for their mid-week flower check up.
First, the basics
1. When you first get your flowers
When you first get your flowers, it's important to put them into water as soon as you can! They might be wet-wrapped, but there is nothing as effective as a vase or water for your flowers to keep them fresh and hydrated.
But before you put them into water, snip a couple of mm off the ends. While flowers are of water, their ends seal and dry up, so this opens the ends up so that they can soak the water up and keep them alive.
All stems that are immersed in water should be clean of leaves. The leaves disintegrate in the water and make the water dirty, which the flowers don't like.
Also, make sure your vase is clean before you put the flowers in, so the water stays clean for as long as possible!
2. Keep the water clean
If you can change the water over and snip the ends of the flowers every day, this will ensure the flowers stay fresh for as long as possible!
3. Keep the flowers in the right spot
Flowers like to be in the right conditions. So keep them away from a heater, direct sun, and even ripening fruit! The gasses from these kill the flowers!
4. Top up your vase water
It's surprising how quickly flowers can drink up the water in the vase, and it's easy to forget about this if the vase is opaque and you can't see the water level. So, check on the water every day by sticking your hand in the vase and ensuring that every single stem is submerged. That way, your bouquet won't die prematurely.
Cover Image Source: Canva
And, for some more tips that might not seem so obvious
1. Don't throw the whole rose out, just pluck away the brown petals
Image source: Google Images
Roses often find their way into the bin much sooner than they should thanks to one or two uncooperative petals that turn brown before the rest of them. If the rose stem is still strong and the head standing tall and upright, then the flower is not dead! Simply pluck away the bad petals and the rose will immediately look alive again.
2. Flex your tulips
Image source: Canva
"Flipping" tulips, or turning their petals out can be done after 2-4 days when the flower has opened slightly (flipped sooner than this and the petals may snap). Tulips are already so amazing to watch over time as their stems grow in length and their colours fade, but if you'd like to completely change their look and reveal the different colours in their centre, give this a go by simply turning each individual petal away from the flower and back on itself using your thumb and forefinger.
3. Bath Hydrangea
Image source: julieblanner.com
Hydrangea is notorious for wilting, especially in the Summer heat. But more often than not this just means they are in need of intense rehydration. Soak their heads and leaves in a sink, bath or bucket of water for around 20 mins, before recutting 1-2cm off the end of the stem and placing them back in a vase. Within 20-30 minutes you should notice the flower head firm up and restore to health. This works for other types of flowers too - roses, hellebores, queen anne's lace and many more.
4. Nudge your poppies open by hand peeling their cases
Image source: Canva
The beauty of poppies is watching them naturally open, their cases falling away one by one to reveal the surprise colour underneath, but sometimes this can take a frustratingly long time. So, if your bouquet is in need of a colour injection, just hand peel the furry outer cases and watch the bright flower begin to open underneath.
5. Pick away droopy leaves
Image source: Google images
The leaves on certain flowers can let them down a little early; Celosia and Amaranthus are two that come to mind. Their light green, soft leaves will normally wilt well before the flower heads have aged, so a really easy fix is to pick off the droopy leaves and the flowers will look fresh again.
Naturally, some flowers in a gift bouquet will age and die off faster, while the ones remaining may still have a few more days to a week of freshness left in them. Rather than bin the whole bouquet, pull out the fresh stems, give their ends a recut and place them in a fresh vase of water. You might need to cut them shorter if the stems are starting to go slimy or limp. Of what's left, decide if there is anything worth keeping in a "dried flower stockpile" to eventually create an interesting dried arrangement.
Image Source: www.countryliving.com
7. Hatch the bird
This is the best kept florist secret out there! Did you know that a birds of paradise actually has two flowers inside the one head? So if the first head turns brown, you can easily pluck it off and use your fingers to manually pull out the second head.
Image Source: Mayesh Wholesale Florist
Youtube
8. Revitalise your Gladioli
The great thing about Gladi's is that they last for ages! When you first receive them, they might have a few open blooms at the base of the stalk, and over the course of a few days the flowers further up the stalk unfurl while the lower petals wilt and turn brown. Removing the old flowers toward the bottom is a very simple housekeeping exercise that'll add days of life to your bouquet.
Image Source: Google Images
Comments (0)
Back to For Flower Lovers