Clean your vase with an anti- bacterial cleaner. If it is small enough you can place it in the dishwasher. This is so important as any bacteria in the vase or container will affect the health of your flowers. The flower food provided with your flowers will slow down the growth of bacteria for 7 days, but it cannot kill existing bacteria.
Flower food is provided with all our flowers. This should be mixed with the correct volume of water. If the water is over concentrated this can damage the flowers by burning the stems. If the water is under concentrated the effects of the anti-bacterial agent and food will not be effective.
Trim at least a half inch of stem off your flowers before you put them in a vase and each time you change the water.
As flowers sit out of water on your ride home, the ends of the stem dry out and the cells die, making it difficult for the flowers to absorb water. By cutting the stems just before placing them in water again, you expose fresh capillaries that suck up the water much more efficiently. When you trim stems when you change the water in the vase a few days later, you remove tissue at the tips that may be breaking down and once again expose fresh tissue that absorbs more water.
Replenish the water frequently. Mix up a sachet of flower food ready for top ups.
If you use dull old scissors or snips to trim your flowers, you are often smashing, and thus damaging, the tissue/cells at the end of the stem. Damaged cells cannot absorb water as effectively as healthy cells. Sharp scissors ensure a clean cut that leaves cells unharmed (except tfor the cut ones!)
Sometimes people think they should set their vase of flowers in a sunny windowsill since that is where a plant would be happiest. However, cut flowers require the opposite needs of potted plants. They are at their peak of perfection. Sun and heat will encourage them to “mature” and shorten their life. Instead, keep your cut flowers in a cool dark spot to get the longest life from your flowers
Ripening fruit gives off an odourless invisible gas called ethylene. This gas is harmless to humans, but rather deadly to flowers. Ethylene is the gaseous hormone in the plant that induces that flower to drop its petals and become a fruit. As the fruit matures, it continues to give off ethylene. When you sit your vase of flowers next to ripening fruit, you’re exposing them to this gas and they will decide they’d better drop their petals too!
Often flowers will deteriorate at different times. Remove flowers that are past their best. Possibly use a smaller or shorter vase or even small bottles for the remaining flowers. You can float flower heads like Gerberas, and these will last up to 3 weeks.
After you throw out your last arrangement, be sure to wash the vase/container very thoroughly in hot soapy water ready for your next display!