Whether someone you love has thoughtfully gifted you a bouquet of roses after a big date, your birth month flower to celebrate a milestone birthday, or just a handful of fresh blooms on a Sunday, you’ll want to keep them alive as long as possible. Here’s how:
Cut the Stems
Though the last thing you may want to do is take a pair of scissors to your beautiful blooms, we promise it’s with the flower’s best interest in mind! Cutting half an inch off the bottom of each of your bloom’s stems helps them to draw in water. Obviously, do this before you put your flowers in the vase full of H20.
Get Your Flowers in Water A.S.A.P.
Think of flowers like fish — the longer they’re out of water, the more unlikely they are to survive! If you’ve just received a bouquet of flowers (or have brought some home from the supermarket) and are searching through your cabinets for the perfect vase, stick your blooms in any old receptacle — a pitcher or coffee mug works fine, depending on the size — filled with water until you can relocate them to a more elegant home.
Be Deliberate With Your Water Temperature
The temperature of water you should use for your plants depends entirely on what you want them to do. If you want them to bloom more quickly, you can try placing them in slightly warm (but never hot!) water. But just know that if you do this, the flowers will go through their life cycle (aka die) sooner. In most cases, it’s best to put your flowers in room temperature water, but if you’ve got some flowers that thrive in the colder months, it’s okay to reduce the water temperature a little bit.
Be Ruthless with Your Leaf Removal
How do you know which leaves you should remove from the stems and which are okay to stay on? The answer is simple; anything that goes below the waterline should be removed. That way, rotten and waterlogged leaves won’t spread flower-killing bacteria.
Place Your Plants in Low Temperatures
Even if it’s cold outside and you’re all bundled up, resist the urge to put your plants somewhere warm (like on top of a radiator, for instance). They do better and last much longer when they are allowed to thrive at a cool, ambient room temperature.
Switch out the Water Frequently
Every few days, you should change the water in your vase to prevent bacteria overgrowth. To keep your plants thriving for an extra long time, trim the stems every time you change the water, just like you did when you first put them in the vase.
Keep Your Florals Well Fed
Sure, you can buy plant food at the store, but it’s an expense you don’t really need to incur. If the flowers you’ve ordered or purchased (or received) came with a packet of plant food, then use that first. But if you need more food for your flowers (which you probably will, because you should give the flowers more food every time you change their water), mix together a few drops of clear soda, gin or vodka, and a vitamin c tablet and add it to your vase of water.
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Bleach! A tiny amount of bleach in the water keeps it from getting moldy and extends the life of the flowers by killing bacteria in their stems.
Bleach! A tiny amount of bleach in the water keeps it from getting moldy and extends the life of the flowers by killing bacteria in their stems.