Flowers are a beautiful way to brighten any space, but keeping them fresh and vibrant can be challenging. By following some simple tips, you can extend the life of your flowers and enjoy their beauty for much longer. Let’s take a closer look at the best practices for choosing, caring for, and maintaining your flowers.
Choose Quality Blooms
One of the key factors in ensuring your flowers last as long as possible is choosing where you buy them. A Mano Florals, a boutique florist offering flower delivery in Perth, says the best way to ensure your flowers are as fresh as possible is to buy through a local florist rather than a supermarket. When you buy flowers from a florist, you can be confident that they have been carefully selected and treated to maintain their quality. This is unlike flowers from the supermarket, which are bought in bulk and receive minimal care.
Why Florists Are a Better Choice
Florists understand different flower types and their specific care needs. They take extra steps to ensure each bouquet is at its peak freshness before it reaches you. Here are just a few reasons florists’ flowers are the superior choice:
- Professional handling: Florists handle flowers with care from growers. They know how to trim stems, remove excess foliage, and arrange blooms to maximize their lifespan.
- Optimal storage conditions: Florists store flowers in controlled environments with the right temperature and humidity levels, ensuring freshness and vibrancy.
- Expert advice: Florists can provide personalized care tips based on your arrangement’s specific flowers, helping you maintain them properly at home.
Care Tips for Longevity
- Trim the stems: Before placing your flowers in a vase, trim each stem at an angle. This increases the surface area for water absorption and prevents the stems from resting flat against the bottom, which can impede water absorption. Use a sharp knife or scissors to make clean cuts and trim about one to two inches off each stem.
- Add plant food: Most florist bouquets come with plant food. This food contains essential nutrients that help flowers stay fresh and healthy. Follow the instructions on the package and add the correct amount to the vase’s water. If you run out of plant food, you can make a homemade solution with sugar, lemon juice, and a few drops of bleach.
- Change the water regularly: Flowers benefit from fresh water, so change your vase water every two to three days. When you do, clean the vase and trim again. This helps prevent bacterial growth and ensures the flowers have a continuous clean water supply.
- The right environment: Place your flowers in a cool, draft-free area, not in direct sunlight, heating vents, and appliances that emit heat. Your blooms will last longer at cooler temperatures, and too much heat can cause them to wilt quickly. Keep them away from ripening fruits, which release ethylene gas that can speed up the aging process of your flowers.
- Remove wilted blooms: When some of the flowers in your arrangement begin to wilt, remove them promptly. Wilting flowers can release bacteria into the water, affecting the remaining blooms’ health. Keeping your arrangement clean and free of decaying flowers will help the rest last longer.
Every day you can enjoy the beauty of your cut flowers is a good one. Follow these easy care tips to enjoy the full blooms of your flowers as long as possible.