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How to take care of flowers in vase


Flower Care Tips - Love 'n Fresh Flowers

Many people are often frustrated by how short-lived a bouquet may be once they get it home. They may forget that fresh cut flowers are still living entities that can be encouraged to last much longer under the right conditions. The following tips will help make your flowers last longer.

Tip #1:

Replenish the water frequently. Change the water entirely every 2-3 days.

Flowers drink a lot of water! It is not uncommon for a large flower arrangement to suck up all the water in a vase within the first day or two you have it at home. Keep the vase full to ensure the flowers do not dry out and wilt. Flowers are also highly susceptible to bacteria that builds up as stems sit in the water. By changing the water in the vase every few days, even if the water hasn’t been used up, will help keep your flowers fresh longer (and avoid that horrid rotten smell that develops if you let them sit a long time). For large formal arrangements, carefully tip the vase over a sink to let the water drain without disturbing the design. Then re-fill the vase by gently pouring water in at the top of the flowers.

Tip #2:

Trim at least a half inch of stem off your flowers before you put them in a vase and each time you change the water.

As flowers sit out of water on your ride home, the ends of the stem dry out and the cells die, making it difficult for the flowers to absorb water. By cutting the stems just before placing them in water again, you expose fresh tissue that can suck up the water much more efficiently. When you trim stems when you change the water in the vase a few days later, you remove tissue at the tips that may be breaking down and once again expose fresh tissue that absorbs more water.

Tip #3:

Keep your flowers away from heat and bright light.

Sometimes people think they should set their vase of flowers in a sunny windowsill since that is where a plant would be happiest. However, cut flowers are actually the opposite of potted plants. They are at their peak of perfection. Sun and heat will encourage them to “mature” and thus quicken their demise. Instead, keep your cut flowers in a cool dark spot if you would like them to last as long as possible.

Tip #4:

Avoid sitting your flowers beside ripening fruit or vegetables, especially bananas and apples.

Ripening fruit gives off an odorless invisible gas called ethylene. This gas is harmless to humans, but rather deadly to flowers. The science behind it is as such: in the plant world, flowers are the precursor of fruit. Once a flower is pollinate, it begins to develop into a fruit so it can form seeds and start the plant life cycle over again. Ethylene is the gaseous hormone in the plant that induces that flower to drop its petals and become a fruit. As the fruit matures, it continues to give off ethylene. When you sit your vase of flowers next to ripening fruit, you’re exposing them to this gas and they will decide they’d better drop their petals the way Mother Nature intended.

Tip #5:

After you throw out your last arrangement, be sure to wash the vase/container very thoroughly in hot soapy water or, better yet, in your dishwasher.

Bacteria build up in dirty vases and do not go away just because the vase dries out. As soon as you add water again, the vase will once again be full of bacteria and your new bouquet will be subjected to the same bacteria that killed the last bouquet. Give your flowers a fresh clean environment free of bacteria and they will last much longer.

Tip #6:

Use “flower food” for most flowers.

While changing the water every other day or so is often just as effective for making flowers last longer, adding those flower food packets that come with packaged flowers are beneficial as well. This is especially true if you’re forgetful/lazy and won’t be changing your flowers’ water regularly. In addition to “feeding” the bouquet, these food packets contain a bactericide that keeps the water fresh for a day or two longer. You can make your own flower food by adding about 1 teaspoon of sugar, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and a 1 teaspoon of bleach to your vase before adding about a quart of warm tap water. It is worth noting that there are a few flowers that actually do NOT like flower food in the vase. Some of these are: zinnias, sunflowers and glads.

Tip #7:

Use sharp scissors when cutting.

If you use dull old scissors or snips to trim your flowers, you are often smashing, and thus damaging, the tissue/cells at the end of the stem. Damaged cells cannot absorb water as effectively as healthy cells. Sharp scissors ensure a clean cut that leaves cells unharmed (except the poor few that inevitably get sliced).

How to Make Flowers Last Longer: 9 Tricks

Flowers are a common gift for any of life’s special occasions and even the moments in between. A bouquet of bright blooms can bring cheer to any space and leave a lasting impression, even after they’re gone. Whether you’ve received an anniversary arrangement, a graduation bouquet or picked out a gorgeous bunch for the coffee table, you’ll want to enjoy them for as long as possible.

The sad truth is that flower bouquets don’t last forever. On the bright side, there are guidelines and little known tips you can use to ensure the longevity of your flowers. We are uncovering everything you need to know about how to make flowers last longer and even putting a few theories to the test.

Flower Care Tips

The first step to making your flowers stay fresh longer is by following a few flower care guidelines. Use the tips below to to extend the life of your blooms from the start.

Cut the Stems One of the most common mistakes people make after receiving flowers is forgetting to cut the stems. Use garden shears to trim one to two inches off and cut at an angle. Cutting the stems at an angle allows for better water intake since they aren’t sitting flat on the bottom of a vase. After the initial cut, be sure to re-trim your bouquet once every few days.

Prune Remove any leaves below the water line. It will not only make your bouquet look better, but also prevent bacterial growth. Some flowers, like roses, have guard petals which are the two or three outermost petals of the flower. Removing these will allow your flower to open up fully. After your initial pruning, you should check your flowers daily for dead or loose leaves and petals in order to avoid bacterial rot.

Water Wisely It’s not only important to get your bouquet hydrated, but to do so wisely. Your flowers won’t last long without water, especially once their stems have been cut. After picking out a clean vase, fill it with room temperature water and add in a packet of flower food. Make sure that the packet has been properly mixed and that the water is not too diluted or too concentrated. It’s also important to clean your vase thoroughly and change out the water and flower food every two to three days.

Avoid Direct Sunlight, Heat, Drafts and Fruit Your flowers will last longer in a room with cool temperatures. Avoid displaying them in direct sunlight or near appliances that generate heat. You’ll also want to avoid areas like open windows, heating or cooling vents and ceiling fans as they can cause the flowers to quickly dehydrate. You also shouldn’t display your bouquet near fruit. That’s right, ripening fruits release tiny amounts of ethylene gas which can reduce the longevity of your fresh arrangement.

In addition to general care, people have also been experimenting with different ways to make flowers last longer. Think household remedies like adding pennies, aspirin and even vodka to your flower water.

9 Interesting ways to Make Flowers Last Longer

There’s no need to keep asking yourself how to make flowers last longer. Surprisingly, you might have a few things lying around the house that can help you enjoy your bouquets. Check out the interesting list of household remedies below:

Sure these theories sound convincing, but which ones actually improve the life of your bouquets?

We were curious too, so we put a few flower care strategies to the test. We took the nine most popular theories for how to make flowers last longer in a controlled environment, here’s what we found out.

The Setup

We started with nine of the same ProFlowers bouquets. In each vase, we added one ProFlowers flower food packet and lukewarm water. Then each of the vases received one of the following flower care tricks and there was one control vase that received no treatment. On day three, we changed out the water, cleaned the vase and added the same ingredients back in.

Check out what each of these tricks claim to do, how to make the concoctions yourself and what happened over the next seven days below:

Apple Cider Vinegar and Sugar: Mix 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 2 tablespoons of water into a vase before adding your flowers. Vinegar acts as an antibacterial agent while the sugar acts as additional flower food. Although apple cider vinegar and sugar didn’t take the title as the worst result, it did come in a close second.

Aspirin: Mix 1 crushed aspirin into your vase of fresh flowers. Aspirin is said to lower the pH level of the water allowing it to travel through the flower faster, preventing wilting. Aspirin might be the solution to a head ache, but it’s not your best bet for keeping your flowers fresh.

Bleach: Add ¼ teaspoon of bleach to your vase of fresh flowers and they should stay fresh longer, at least that’s what they say. Bleach will keep your water from getting cloudy as well as help fight bacteria. The bleach did indeed keep the water in the vase from getting too cloudy although, it didn’t stand out in keeping the bouquet fresh.

Coins: Add a copper penny to your fresh bouquet. The copper should act as an acidifier, fighting the bacteria growth in your arrangement. On Day 4, the blooms with the copper penny opened up nicely. In fact, it may have caused the flowers to open too quickly resulting in a few wilting flowers by day 7.

Flower Food: Adding flower food to your vase of fresh flowers is a tried and true way to keep your blooms fresh longer. Each of our tested bouquets also received a packet of flower food along with their treatment.

Fridge: Put your bouquet in the fridge every night before bed (typically 8 hours per night.) Flowers are said to thrive in cooler temperatures. It is thought that the low temps help slow the aging. Looks like floral bouquets like to stay nice and cool. The bouquet that went in the fridge overnight came in first place and is the best way to make flowers last longer. This bouquet was looking healthy even on day 10.

Hair Spray: Spritz your fresh blooms with hairspray. There’s not much science to back this theory, but it holds your hair in place so it should work, right? Wrong. Whatever home remedy you decide to try to keep your flowers alive, it should not be spritzing the petals with hairspray. We recommend avoiding doing so at all costs. The hairspray came in last place being the worst way to make flowers last longer.

Soda: Pour ¼ cup of soda in a vase full of fresh flowers. The sugar in soda is said to make your blooms last longer and even smelling sweeter too. Looks like flowers enjoy some extra sweetness, the soda came in as our runner up trick to making flowers last longer. In fact, even on day 10 the soda bouquet was looking just as healthy as day 1 with the only difference being the flowers opening up more.

Vodka: Add a few drops of vodka (or any clear spirit) to your vase of flowers. Vodka is said to have a different effect on flowers. The spirit’s ability to inhibit ethylene production, a ripening gas that helps plants mature, slows the wilting of the flowers. This proved true and although vodka didn’t take the cake as the best way to keep flowers fresh longer, it did come in as  third runner up.

The results are in! Ever wonder why florists keep their bouquets in the fridge? Well, now you know…

Looks like making sure your flowers are nice and chill is the best way to keep them fresh longer. You can also try adding a little lemon-lime soda to your water mixture. On the other hand, just because a spritz of hairspray will keep your hair in place doesn’t mean it will keep your bouquet of flowers fresh. In fact, we recommend avoiding the hairspray method altogether.

Now that you have some extra tricks up your sleeve for ensuring the longevity of your bouquets, you should try one out yourself! Browse our collection of same day flower delivery and find the perfect bouquet for any celebration or surprise someone with flowers for no reason at all!

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What to add to water to make flowers last longer in a vase

Why do flowers fade quickly?

The main reason is the lack of familiar environment. Cut stems are deprived of nutrition, which was carried out by obtaining the necessary substances by the root system, as well as moisture from the soil. Just water in a vase is not enough for a full life.

You may have already noticed that some bouquets stay fresh much longer than others. It also depends on the type of plant, but to a greater extent - on the conscientiousness of the florist who made you a bouquet. It could be collected from stale, frozen flowers, or it just stood in the store for a long time. nine0007

Flowers fade quickly also because they are not cared for properly. To keep the flowers in the vase longer, you need to change the water frequently. In this case, you need to put the bouquet in the shade, avoiding sunlight.

How to properly prepare a bouquet before placing it in a vase?

Preliminary preparation is necessary in order for the flowers to stand in the water for a long time. First, take apart the bouquet. Cut off each stem about 1-2 cm in length.

Please note that the cutting angle can be any. But we advise sticking to 45-50°.

Now dip the cut sections in lukewarm water. Wait for bubbles to appear.

Choose a container with a neck suitable for the size of the bouquet. It should not pinch the stems. Flowers need "freedom".

The vase must be clean. Do not neglect this point. After cleaning, fill a vase with cool water and place the prepared plants.

How to make a bouquet last longer in a vase

The first and basic rule is to use high-quality water. What kind of water is needed for flowers? Rain or melt is preferred. If there is nowhere to take it, then the most ordinary filtered one will do, but it has settled for a couple of hours, and preferably all night. To soften the water, add a little citric acid.

Spare no water. Pour enough so that it reaches the middle of the stems.

What else is needed to make the flowers stand for a long time? We have already mentioned that before placing the bouquet in a vase, it is necessary to cut off the lower parts of the stems. It is recommended to do this regularly (1 time per day). Through a fresh cut, the plants will be better saturated with moisture. Also remove the leaves/needles from the bottom. nine0007

What to add to flowers to make them last longer

To make flowers last longer, special preservatives are added to the water. Most of the products that prolong the life of plants can be found at home:

Each product for flowers, in order for them to stand 100% long, requires the correct dosage. Follow the proportions described above and do not overdo it with the amount of ingredients.

Which flowers last longer in a vase

How to make flowers last longer? Choose their varieties that are least susceptible to room conditions. Champions in the ability to adapt to different temperature and environmental conditions are chrysanthemums. With proper care, they can decorate the house for 3-4 weeks. nine0007

Carnations are no less hardy. There are many shades of this plant. Pay attention to them if you want a delicate bouquet to please your eye for at least 3 weeks.

Freesias, hyacinths, orchids and asters can keep fresh for at least 14 days. Daisies, irises, peonies and tulips are more capricious. In the absence of care and inappropriate conditions, they wither after 1.5 weeks.

Popular roses cost the least. If you come across “stale” specimens, then they will begin to fade after a couple of days. Fresh flowers will delight for about a week. nine0007

How to make flowers last longer: take good care of cut plants

What can we do to make flowers last longer? You need to follow a few simple rules:

Life hack: If the buds have begun to wilt, then it's time to give them shock therapy. To do this, pour boiling water on the bottom of the stem (a few centimeters from the end). Cut off the blackened ends. This procedure will help open the pores in the stems, and they will begin to absorb water with a vengeance.

Common mistakes

What can be done to make the flowers stand in a vase for a long time? In fact, everything is simple. Avoid the following errors:

  1. Irregular water changes. Make it a rule to change the water daily. nine0007

Important: the water must not be topped up, but replaced completely.

It should not be icy, but cool enough. If you put the water to settle, then it is better to keep it in a cool place.

  1. No preservatives in the water. It is not recommended to mix several funds. So you will speed up the decay.

  2. Wrong cut. A sloppy, torn cut is not suitable for plants.

  3. Presence of leaves at the bottom of the stem. Otherwise, they will start to rot in the water.

  4. Bad place. Do not place the bouquet near heaters, gas stoves, window sills located on the sunny side.

We have given you valuable tips on how to make flowers last longer. Stick to them and they will help prolong the life of your bouquet.

How to keep cut flowers longer?

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A gifted flower arrangement can please the hostess if properly cared for. Cut flowers experience some stress after we deprive them of their natural source of moisture and nutrition, so it is important to provide them with comfortable conditions. More often, plants wither due to lack of water or a decrease in sugars. This usually happens if the vessels of the plant are clogged with air bubbles. nine0007

In order to prevent such a nuisance, it is important to cut the stem correctly before placing the flowers in water. There are still a lot of nuances, having familiarized with which even a non-professional florist will know - how to keep cut flowers fresh for a long time?

How to properly prepare flowers?

Caring for cut flowers requires care and knowledge. Before putting flowers in a vase, they need to be prepared. The presented bouquet will have fresh and correct cuts. To refresh them, just hold them under running cold water. Pay attention to the bottom of the bouquet - remove the lower leaves from the stem. If the composition is made up of flowers with a soft stem, the cut should be long and oblique, and in the case of a hard stem, a more even cut is made. To preserve the fresh aroma, the flowers are sprayed with cold water from a spray bottle. Also, florists recommend crushing the bottom of the stem (about 2 cm) with a hammer - this will increase the moisture absorption surface and allow the flowers to delight you with their beauty for a longer period. If you are doing everything right and cannot understand why cut flowers still wither, pay attention to the following recommendation. nine0007

Don't forget to feed. Depending on the flower, a special top dressing is added to the vase with water - useful vitamins, which also affect the "service life" of the donated plant.

Water disinfection

Spring water does not flow in the taps, it would be unreasonable to put a fresh bouquet in it. Let's analyze the question of how to keep fresh flowers longer with the help of water purification. No need to use expensive filters and special chemicals. Boil running water and cool it - this will save it from harmful substances. You can go the opposite way by turning the liquid into ice - melt water is good for plants. You can disinfect water with a piece of charcoal - just put it in the bottom of a vase and it will do its job. Florists can afford to add one drop of whiteness or any detergent - this will stop the growth of bacteria in the water. nine0007

Top dressing of flowers

Next, let's look at how to prolong the life of cut flowers with the power of special top dressings.

Where to put the bouquet?

Finding a location is very important if you want to know how to keep your cut flowers fresh.

How to care for cut flowers?

To summarize, we have outlined the principles for caring for cut flowers:

Following simple rules, you can keep the fragrant composition for 1-2 weeks. Some flowers, with proper care, can please you for more than 20 days! Therefore, armed with knowledge, you can easily achieve the desired result!