THE FLOWERS
It always helps to make a good start. Buy fresh flowers from the florist. Flowers that are fresh have no brown edges or shrivelled leaves and don’t look droopy. They may even still be in bud! Every flower is different, so you should ask the florist about the vase life - that's the time that a flower should last.
THE PREPARATION
Flowers drink through their stem. To encourage that we trim the stems diagonally - diagonally because that gives more drinking surface. Make sure that you cut the flowers with a knife not scissors; cutting them with scissors can crush the stem which prevents the flower from taking up water. This is also a good time to remove the lower leaves.
THE VASE
A fresh bouquet starts with a clean vase. Scrub the vase thoroughly with a couple of drops of bleach after each use. Rinse repeatedly until no foam is produced. The advantage of glass vases is that you can see what’s happening in the vase. Also see the next section on water.
THE WATER
You enjoy drinking fresh water, don’t you? Well so do your flowers. If possible refresh the water every day, with a drop of bleach to prevent bacteria (or use the flower food that you got with the bouquet). Also remove wilted leaves, inquisitive insects and other unpleasantness. They all create poor conditions.
THE ENVIRONMENT
Flowers respond strongly to temperature, draughts and light. Place your flowers in a spot that’s not too warm, away from the fruit bowl and out of the draught. To keep them fresh even longer, you could place your flowers in a cool spot at night. But if you want your flowers to bloom more quickly, place them in the sun for an hour and watch what happens.
THINGS HAVE GONE WRONG - WHAT NOW?
Cut slimy stems right back and remove sad-looking flowers. A clean vase and fresh water will soon have the flowers standing perkily upright again. But unfortunately all flowers wilt in the end, even with the very best care. Luckily you can then go and choose a beautiful new bunch!
