Vase Life Tips and Tricks
You can usually enjoy cut flowers for a few days if you simply drop them in a vase. But for blooms with staying power, here are some things you can do to make them last.
Flowers hate bacteria
Your vase should be clean enough you'd be willing to drink from it. Bacteria in dirty vases will grow rapidly and kill your flowers. There is no harm in scrubbing with bleach.
Strip stems to make sure there are no leaves below the waterline. Leaves that are submerged in your vase water are going to rot, rotting leads to bacteria, and well...we know what happens next.
Use a “flower food”
Flower food has three components: 1. sugar to feed the flowers, 2. some kind of ant-bacterial (again with the bacteria) and 3. something to keep the ph where flowers like it.
You can buy commercial flower food or use a packet that may have come with a bouquet.
You can also make your own. Here is a basic home recipe:: 1 quart water + 2 tablespoons lemon juice + 1 tablespoon sugar + 1/2 teaspoon bleach.
Surprise! Flowers need water
It seems pretty obvious. But it is easy for it to get away from you especially if your blooms are in an opaque container where you can’t see it.
Fresh local flowers will go through water MUCH faster than imports from the grocery store. It might surprise you so don’t forget them.
Give the stems a fresh cut from time to time to make it easier for them to take it up.
It is easy to keep an eye on water levels in a glass vase
Change up your arrangement as it ages
Some flowers have vase lives that are longer than others. If you pull out any flowers that are past their prime, you can extend your vase life. If at the end of several days, you are still enjoying many of the blooms but some are finished, it may be a good time to take them all out of your vase, recut the stems and re-design in a smaller vase.
Shop local
Flowers in the grocery store or other commercial locations may have been harvested weeks before they made it to the shop. They have been on airplanes, refrigerated trucks and handled by countless people. It is really a miracle in many ways, but you’ll be picking them up at the end of their lives and will likely not be able to enjoy them for too long.
If you really want a bouquet that lasts, cut one yourself in your own backyard or support a local grower. Check out Floret’s Flower Collective to find a flower farm near you.
