Bringing cut flowers into your home can cheer up the rainiest summer days and the coldest weeks of winter. But how do you make sure they stay bright and cheery in their vase?
Whether you’re buying them from the florist or growing them in your garden, cut flowers need a little tender loving care to keep them in tip-top shape. We’ve compiled some horticulturist-approved tips for selecting and caring for your next bouquet.
Picking your flowers
From the garden
You can cut any flower from your garden to bring inside, but not all flowers are suited to life in a vase. Some of the best annual flowers to plant for cutting include sunflowers, zinnias, statice, snapdragon and larkspur. As a bonus, cutting annuals and perennials can encourage more growth and more blooms. Peonies, irises, tulips, daffodils, hyacinth and hosta foliage also make wonderful additions to arrangements.
When you go out to cut flowers, it’s ideal to do it in the morning when the weather is cooler and the plants are fully hydrated. Select flowers that are just before peak bloom, perhaps still in bud, so they continue to open indoors, and be sure to get them inside and in to water as soon as possible.
From the store
Look for a variety of flowers that will last when you go to the florist. While roses can be lovely, especially for Valentine’s Day, other flowers are more fragrant, less expensive and stay vibrant longer. Lilies and freesias have a beautiful smell and daisies, carnations, delphiniums, alstroemeria, spider mums, baby’s breath and bells of Ireland will last.
If you want flowers that will stick around for more than a week (or many weeks!) try potted plants like forced bulbs, miniature roses, orchids, cyclamen, primulas (primrose) or African violets.
Once you’ve decided on the type or types of flower you want, make sure to choose a bouquet or stems with undamaged petals that aren’t browning, and be wary of flowers with light-colored petals, because they’ll show damage faster. Pick flowers that are still in bud, so they’ll open in your home, and make sure the bud is firm if you’re selecting roses.
Preparing your arrangement
If you’ve bought or received flowers in a vase, then you don’t need to do much of anything right away. But if you have individual cut flowers, quickly trim one inch off the stem with your sharpest knife, remove any leaves that will sit below the water line and get them into a clean vase. Keep the vase in a cool place in bright indirect light and away from hot or cold drafts.
Change the water in the vase every 2–3 days or when it becomes cloudy, whether it’s your own vase or an arrangement prepared by a florist. The water should be room temperature and mixed with a floral preservative packet.
Floral preservative is a mix of carbohydrate (to nourish the plant and extend its life), a biocide (to kill bacteria and fungi) and an acidifier (to lower the pH of the water). These packets usually come with flowers from the store, but you can also buy them online or ask for extra from your florist. Following the ratio on the packet, mix the preservative into a jug of water and keep it in your kitchen for when your flowers need refreshment.
Common cut flower myths
There are several misconceptions surrounding caring for cut flowers, and some are more true than others:
- It’s a common tale that adding sugar, aspirin, pennies or bleach will help extend the life of your flowers, but these home remedies generally do nothing — or worse, end up damaging the plant.
- There is no real difference between filtered or tap water to your flowers, as long as you replace the water when it becomes cloudy and filled with debris.
- Many people assume that flowers should last a couple of weeks in vases, but flowers typically don’t last much more than a week regardless of how much care you take.
Don’t be afraid to give up the ghost on your bouquets. If some, but not all, of your flowers start to look less than perfect, you can selectively remove them from your arrangement. You might also consider drying or pressing certain flowers like lavender and statice. However, no bloom is made to last — whether inside or outside — so enjoy them while you can, compost them and start again when your house looks like a flower graveyard.
For more information on how to care for cut flowers, listen to Garden Variety, the podcast where we talk with horticulturists, foresters and other experts. We learn about vegetable gardens, lawns, native plants, trees and more. Garden Variety is the podcast for all the things you'd like to grow — or grow better.
