How to Make bouquets of cut flowers last longer.

Nothing makes a house look brighter or lifts the mood better than a nice big bouquet of cut flowers in a vase, except maybe two of them. Cut flowers can be very expensive though and so you really want to get the most out of them and help them to last as long as possible. You really do want to get your money's worth.

It helps to know a little bit about the actual structure of flowers and their stems. When a flower stem is cut small screens that allow water through but not air cause a tiny bubble of air to form on the base of the stem. If this is not removed the flower won’t be able to make use of the water and will effectively dry out and die, even when it is standing in a vase full of clean water.

The first thing to do when you get home with your bunch of cut flowers is to trim the stems, this will release any air bubbles and allow the stems to start taking up water again. Always cut the stems on a slant, to expose as much cut stem surface as possible. Use a sharp knife but not scissors. Removing those leaves that will be under water will also increase the life of your cut flowers, but you should always leave the thorns on roses as the scar left behind will shorten their cut life considerably. In fact, if you remove the thorns, you might even find your beautiful bunch of roses has withered away overnight.

Cut flowers last far longer and will look better if kept relatively cool, so keep vases away from direct sunlight and away from heat sources such as fires or radiators. If your fridge is big enough or empty enough you can place the vase of flowers in it for a few hours before placing it in your home. It will make them last longer but I never seem to have the space or time to do it. If you are going to cut a bouquet of flowers from your own garden to use to brighten your home try to cut them in the early evening, the flowers will have had a day to store water and food and will look their best for far longer than flowers cut in the morning. Always use a very clean vase, one that has had a little bleach added to the final rinse water works best. Don’t be tempted to add bleach to the flower water as even a small amount will smell and really doesn’t do much for the cut flowers at all. The only exception to this rule is to add one or two drops of very weak bleach only to a large vase full of water.

Very often cut flowers that you buy already come with a small packet of cut flower food that can be added to the water, these work just fine but in my experience the water that the flowers are in needs changing long before the flowers begin to wilt. Even though one of the main ingredients and main purpose of these plant foods is to reduce the bacteria in the water, they don’t eliminate the smell of stale water.

Nothing makes a house smell worse than that slightly damp, musty smell of water that has been standing around too long. It’s like coming home from a vacation and finding a pair of forgotten wet socks hidden by the side of the washing machine. Not a good smell at all!

Most household tap water has a PH level that is a little too high for cut flowers to tolerate for long periods and any plant food either commercial or homemade has to include something to lower the PH levels to work well. Citric acid is very effective at lowering these PH levels and is present in citric fruit such as lemons, oranges and limes. If you use coloured vases a good squeeze from one of these fruits will work just fine but they can stain so are no good if your vases are clear. Use lemonade or sprite instead, but as the cut flowers also need sugar then don’t use the diet variety as they won’t work anywhere near as well.

This is a good way to use up the last drops from your soda bottles as the flowers won’t care if the lemonade is flat. Use a half and half mixture, half tap water and half soda. If you do use homemade flower food such as this you will need to change the water every two days as the sugar increases the growth of bacteria.

Another useful homemade cut flower food is to mix two tablespoons of sugar with two tablespoons of white vinegar in two pints of lukewarm water. Whether you use commercial or home made cut flower food the water will need to be changed every second or third day to get the most from your flowers. Always remember to re- cut the stems when you change the water.

Some flowers are like some people, they like to be alone. Daffodils produce toxins that will kill any other flowers placed in a vase with them so always give them their own space.

What could look nicer to brighten your home in the springtime than a simple glass bowl filled with golden yellow daffodils.Daffodils are cheap and cheerful, they are easy to grow yourself from bulbs and once planted they multiply and come up year after year. I have so many of them growing around the garden that from very early in the year I have a bowl of them in almost every room in my house. They seem to fit with just about any colour scheme. They always say spring to me better than any other flower and let me know that the long hot days of summer are just around the corner.

Daffodils blooming in the garden mean spring has arrived, or at the very least is just around the corner waiting to rush in. After a long, cold winter they are a very welcome visitor to my house. Cut daffodils will keep for a long time if you remember to change the water every other day. Pick the flowers when they are still in bud, they will open out in a day or so in a warm room. I sometimes plant a few bulbs in a small pot and keep that indoors, the smaller variety such as tete-a-tete work really well for this.