My Top Tips for Flower Care
Having flowers around the house on a regular basis creates a positive environment for our mental, physical, and emotional health. The good news is, it doesn’t require a tremendous amount of effort to incorporate this healthy habit into our lives. Once we have flowers, we want them to look as beautiful as possible for as long as possible. Here are my top tips for things we can do to assure we get the longest vase-life possible for our fresh flowers.
Make sure your vase is clean: Any bacteria in your vase will shorten the life of the flowers. If I’m washing my vases by hand, I add a drop of bleach and then rinse well with hot water, but more often than not, I just run them through a cycle in the dish washer and they’re good to go;
Use fresh clean water: This is so important! Always have clean water in your vase. I change mine every second day. It only takes a minute, but it makes a huge difference;
Cut the stems of the flowers: When you first put your flowers in the vase, and every time you change the water after that, cut the stems at an angle. This will help them absorb water. (No smashing or piercing the stems, as this has the opposite effect - preventing water absorption.);
Find the right spot for them: Here is where not to place your flowers: in direct sunlight, in a draft, near a heating or cooling vent (causes dehydration), or near any fresh fruit. Fruit is the enemy of flowers as the ethylene gas they emit is detrimental to them.
Down-size your arrangement: No matter if you have a big mixed bouquet, or a small bunch of all the same type of flower, each stem does not last the same amount of time as all the others. To keep your arrangement looking fresh and healthy, remove each bloom when it fades. As you get fewer and fewer stems, move the remaining flowers into smaller vases. My Mum is the queen of down-sizing a flower arrangement and keeps this process going until all that is left is one bloom in a bud vase!
Flower food: Those little packets of flower food that come with your bouquet – should you use them or not? Flower food is good for nourishing the flowers, keeping bacteria at bay and encouraging buds to open. BUT this only works if you follow the directions correctly. I’m quite certain that not many of us read the tiny little print on the back of the pack and then measure the correct amount of water to mix with the correct amount of food. Improperly mixed food can do more harm to the flowers than good. Personally I never use the flower food. I find when I follow the other tips listed here, the flowers do just great.
These are my top tips for keeping your flowers looking their best. While eventually they will die, while they’re here, they bring such beauty to the world it’s worth the few extra moments it takes to care for them properly.
