Cut Flower Care
You’ve just received a beautiful bouquet of flowers made by your favourite florists and you want them to last as long as possible. So how do you care for cut flowers?
Choose your container
Grab your favourite vase and fill it with water and mix in the flower food that came with your bouquet. If you didn’t get any flower food sachets, then you can actually DIY your own with sugar and bleach. Find more DIY flower food ideas on this post here [LINK NEEDED when the post is written].
DIY Flower Food
Ingredients:
- 1/2 tsp Bleach
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 2 tbsp Lemon juice (optional)
Directions:
- Fill your vase with enough water to make sure it will at least cover all of the stem ends.
- Add your sugar and bleach and mix in with a spoon or cocktail stick.
- The lemon juice can also be added if you have access to some.
- Make sure your sugar has all disintegrated and is no longer sediment on the bottom of the vase.
Bye-bye pretty packaging
Remove any wraps or packaging (I know it’s pretty, but it needs to be taken off) and cut any twine, wire or tape around the stems.
Strip the leaves
Take off any leaves that will fall below the water line in your vase. If these aren’t removed, they start to rot and mould and can decrease the longevity of your flowers, not to mention the naff pong they will release…
Trim the stems
Cut each stem at an angle before placing your flowers into fresh water with flower food. Cutting on a diagonal gives the end of the stem more surface area for water and food to be taken up.
Displaying your flowers safely
Keep your flowers out of direct sunlight as this could cause delicate flowers to wilt, shrivel or scorch.
Don’t place your flowers above any radiators or other heat sources as this can decrease the life of your flowers quite drastically. Some flowers will dry up and begin to drop petals if exposed to high temperatures.
Regular check-ups
Change the vase water (adding flower food) and recut the stems at an angle every 2 or 3 days to keep the flowers fresher. Smelly old vase water is one of my pet peeves and even as a florist, you never get over the smell…
Remove flowers as they start to die, as they can rot and cause other flowers to die quicker because they reduce the quality of the water.
