How To Keep Cut Flowers for Longer

Someone special in your life has given you a beautiful bunch of flowers, or you have just cut some flowers out of your garden – but now you’re thinking, what do I do with them?

If you are like most people, you’ll chuck them in a vase of water and forget them, only to find that they are dead within a couple of days!

Here are some great tips to extend the vase life of cut flowers to get the absolute most out of them!

1. The fresher, the better.

Cut flowers in your garden during the morning or early evening when the temperatures are cooler. Use sharp pruners. As you cut the flowers, place them in a bucket of lukewarm water.

2. Once indoors, cut the stems with a sharp knife on a slant under running tap water.

3. Remove leaves that will be below the water line in the vase.

Do not remove thorns from roses as they won’t last very long.

4. Condition the cut flowers by placing the stems in lukewarm water for several hours in a cool, dark place.

This allows better absorption of water into the flowers.

5. Do not store or place cut flowers near unsealed fruits or vegetables.

This could possibly produce ethylene gas that quickens the aging process of your flowers.

6. Change the water in the vase every two days.

7. Feed your flowers.

You can use the little packet of flower food that often comes with shop-bought bunches of flowers, or you can make your own! A good mixture is half lemonade and half water, which you should change every day. Other substances which you can use to make plant food are: few splashes of citrus fruit juice, vinegar, mouthwash or a crushed aspirin plus a teaspoon of sugar to the water.

If you are waiting for your flowers to bloom and are wanting to gift a beautiful bunch than head over to Bud Flowers for Toorak Flower Delivery, they will totally have you covered!!!

Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

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