Getting a bunch of flowers is a sweet treat for you and the home — they brighten the room, while filling it with light fragrance and best of all, you only need to change the water every day or so and they’re fine, right?
Wrong.
When it comes to looking after bouquets, there’s actually a fine art to keeping them looking bright, fresh, and healthy for longer and a quick snip of the stems followed by chucking them into water isn’t going to cut it.
Pun fully intended.
So, what are we getting wrong when it comes to looking after bouquets?
So, contrary to, uh, exactly what I’ve been doing, you never cut flower stems in a straight line. According to Salisbury Greenhouse: “It is recommended to cut at a 45-degree angle so that the entire stem’s surface area is always in contact with the water.
“If it’s cut straight across, there isn’t as much of a chance of the water reaching the entire surface of the stem.”
Once flowers are trimmed, they need to be placed immediately into lukewarm water with flower food in it.
Most bouquets now come with instructions for how many inches to trim off the bottom of the stems but if yours didn’t, make sure to research the individual flowers to get it exactly right.
Salisbury Greenhouse said: “A good general rule to go by is to not have any leaves touching the water. Keeping some leaves on stems is fine, and in many cases, adds more volume to your bouquet, but leaves in the water will just cause them to go mouldy and slimy in the vase.”
As for how often the water should be changed for bouquets? According to Flying Flowers, once every two days is usually fine, but, if the weather is quite hot, you might want to do it every day.
I can’t wait to see my next bunch of flowers bloom.