10 Secrets to Make Your Cut Flowers Last Way Longer

Ensuring the longevity of your blooms starts before you even get them home. Keeping them hydrated is key, even during transport. Ideally, the florist you buy from will provide a water vial, but a damp paper towel wrapped around the end will also do in a pinch.

Ensuring your fresh flowers last longer starts with the right prep. It’s essential that you don’t just throw your flowers straight in a vase after bringing them home — the stems need to first be trimmed to remove dry ends and air blockages that can prevent your fresh flowers from soaking up water. A tip to make your flowers last longer: cut the stems at an approximately 45 degree angle. This allows more surface area to soak up water, keeping your blooms healthier for longer.

Remove the lower leaves so that only the stems are in water. Leaving leaves on and submerged in water can contaminate it with bacteria which will not only cause the water to smell putrid more quickly, but it can also cause the flowers to wilt and die faster.

If you haven’t noticed by now, one of the most important ways to keep flowers fresh is by ensuring maximum hydration. Some experts even recommend cutting the stems of your blooms under a stream of running water, so there’s next to no opportunity for air bubbles to block the stems.

Try this florist-approved tip: for each litre of water, add in a teaspoon of sugar and a few (2-3) drops of bleach to the water. The sugar helps to feed the flowers, and the bleach keeps the water clear and prevents bacteria growth. There are several variations of this recipe that call for sugar, vinegar, alcohol and bleach that all serve the same purpose.

Just as one bad apple can spoil the bunch, a limp flower can cause premature wilting of the rest. When a cut flower begins to droop, it can release ethylene gas and bacteria that speeds up the wilting of the neighbouring blooms. Keep an eye on your bouquet and pick out the flowers that look off each day.

Keeping water fresh and free of bacteria will ensure that your flowers stay fresh for longer. It’s important to change out the water every couple of days: two to three is generally the sweet spot.

Here’s an unusual one: instead of tossing those now-defunct pennies in a fountain, try tossing them in a vase with your fresh flowers. The copper in pennies is a fungicide, which will help kill off bacteria that can shorten the shelf life of your bouquet.

Have you noticed that florists keep fresh flowers in fridges? It’s because the cool temperature and dark environment helps extend the life of your flowers by slowing down water loss. To keep your blooms strong and healthy, pop the flowers (still stored in their vase with water) in the fridge overnight.

While it’s true that plants love sunlight, too much can cause wilting for cut flowers. Keep your bouquet out of strong, direct sunlight. A shadier spot is preferred over a windowsill that gets hours of rays a day.