Having fresh flowers in your home or workspace is a simple way to add beauty, colour, and a touch of nature to your space. Follow these expert tips to keep your flowers looking their best for days (or even weeks!) to come.
Having fresh flowers in your home or workspace is a simple way to add beauty, colour, and a touch of nature to your space. Whether it’s a bouquet for a special occasion or a handpicked arrangement from your garden, proper care can significantly extend the life of your flowers. Follow these expert tips to keep your flowers looking their best for days (or even weeks!) to come.
Before placing your flowers in a vase, make sure it’s clean.
Cutting flower stems is one of the simplest and most important steps in flower care.
Inside a flower stem, there are tiny tube-like structures or vessels called xylems which work like mini straws to pull water and nutrients from the vase (or soil) up to the flower. These vessels are part of the plant’s vascular system, similar to how blood vessels transport blood in our bodies.
Why Trimming Stems Helps
When you cut a flower, air can block the xylem vessels, making it harder for water to travel. By trimming the stems and cutting them at an angle, you reopen the xylem and make it easier for the flower to drink water, just like clearing a clogged straw.
This is why proper care is so important—you’re helping the flower’s “water system” work efficiently!
How to Do It: Use sharp scissors to cut about an inch off the bottom of each stem at a 45-degree angle. This increases the surface area for water absorption.
Pro Tip: Re-trim the stems every few days to prevent them from sealing off and reducing water uptake.
Strip away any leaves that fall below the waterline in your vase.
Fresh water is essential for keeping flowers hydrated.
How to Do It: Fill your vase with room-temperature water and mix in the packet of flower food that often comes with your bouquet. I provide Chrysal flower food with every bouquet which comes in a compostable sachet and is a 99% bio based flower food. The sachet will biodegrade in just 12 weeks! (https://www.chrysal.com/en-gb/products/chrysal-compostable-sachet)
Pro Tip: Change the water every two to three days to keep it fresh and bacteria-free.
The environment plays a big role in how long your flowers last.
What to Avoid: Keep flowers away from direct sunlight, radiators, and drafts as extreme temperatures can cause them to wilt. Also avoid placing them near any fruits like apples, bananas, avocados or pears as they produce high amounts of the natural gas, ethylene which can cause flowers to age more quickly.
Pro Tip: Display your flowers in a cool, shaded area to prolong their vibrancy.
As some flowers begin to wilt, it’s time to act.
I try and avoid as much waste as possible from my flowers and one of the ways to do this is by drying or pressing. Dried flowers can keep their colours and beauty for many years if kept out of direct sunlight and make great keepsakes. I’ll be doing a separate post on drying flowers shortly but in the meantime, let me know in the comments—what’s your favourite flower, and how do you keep it looking its best?
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