Fresh Flower Bouquet Tips

I am not a florist, but I love flowers and fresh bouquets and have discovered some things that seem to keep the flowers fresher longer. A few of these tips I have just stumbled upon through experience, but many of them I read about. One of my favorite books for finding tips about gardening, outdoor entertaining, and recipes for using fresh herbs, flowers, and vegetables is a Gooseberry Patch book, For Bees & Me. These sweet book is full of cute stories and helpful tips and some of the things I list in this post I learned from reading this book.

1. If you are the one who will be out cutting the flowers from the ground (or maybe your children are helping out!), take a pitcher or bucket of water with you to put the flowers in immediately after you cut them. The water should just be lukewarm, no need for cold water!

2. When you are cutting the flower, cut as close to the ground as you can so you will have the longest stem to work with later when it is time to put them in their vase. Always cut the flower, never pull or twist it because it can close up the stem and less water will be available. Cut flowers need as much water as they can get.

3. If you are putting bought flowers into a vase, cut the bottom of the stems at an angle. Even if the stems are already cut at an angle, making a fresh cut can open up where the other one may have closed up. If you are cutting the flowers from the field, do the same thing: cut the stems the length you want, making sure the bottom is cut at an angle. The picture below should help to illustrate what I mean by "angle."

4. A drop or two of bleach in your vase mixed with the water will keep your flowers fresh longer! I had picked a bouquet of daffodils in February and added bleach to the vase and they lasted a solid two weeks. I picked another bouquet a week or so later and did not put bleach in the vase and they were deteriorating after about three or four days.

5. Daffodils secrete a slimy substance when they are cut that can quicken the downfall of other flowers in a bouquet. If you are mixing daffodils with other flowers, you can take a small piece of cotton ball soaked in water and place it in the "tube" of the daffodil stems. This way, water still gets to the flowers, but the slimy substance won't come out as quickly and hurt the other flowers.

Some flowers just naturally aren't as good for cut flowers as others, and won't last very long no matter what you do. I hope this helps when you are out picking all those great spring flowers!

I love this book!