10 Tips How to make your Flowers live Longer

You have received a beautiful bouquet of blooms - Hooray! Now... How do you help your fresh flowers last as long as possible? Here are our best tips for caring for your flowers.

We believe looking after your fresh flowers should be a fun and rewarding part of enjoying your floral gift.

The Number #1 MOST IMPORTANT TIP I can give you for your flowers is "Enjoy them!!"
- Look at them, smell them, notice them, watch them open, really enjoy the whole experience of having flowers in the house and how good they make you feel!!
Arranging flowers is a great mindfulness practice, they are a special gift to receive, and it is always great to bring nature indoors.

How To Care For Your Fresh Flowers:

Caring for flowers that have been delivered in a water-filled Vox Box

You will find most of Best Blooms flower deliveries go out in a water-filled vox box (portable vase) with flower food already dissolved in the water.

Easy Flower Care!

Flowers in a vox are easy to take care of - just add fresh water into the vox box inside the heavy-duty waterproof liner. Ensure you do not get the bottom of the vox wet.

No unwrapping, no cutting, no fuss flowers!
This means the recipient doesn't have to do anything to their blooms, and can either simply leave them in the vox, or if they prefer, transfer the bouquet to their own vase to enjoy - it's your choice.
If you decide to transfer your flowers from your vox into a vase - please follow the below instructions.

How do you Make Fresh Cut Flowers Last Longer?

Whether you have had a delivery of flowers (lucky you!), or maybe you have gone out and carefully picked flowers growing in your garden. If you have received a bouquet of cut flowers - this is how to treat your blooms right, to ensure long-lasting freshness of your floral display...

Easy Steps to make Flowers live for over 2 Weeks:

1. Clean your Vase

Get your gloves on and give your vase a really good scrub out with a brush, and a small splash of Janola (Bleach), or white vinegar for a more natural alternative cleaner.

Why do florists do this?

Keep your vase clean to kill any germs or bacteria and prevent infecting the water. Bacteria will spoil your flowers faster, and reduce their life-span as a cut flower.

Use flower food sachets for maximum vase life

2. Use Flower Food

Add the Flower Food to the vase (you will have received a sachet with your flowers from Best Blooms). Yes it really does work!
One sachet will make up .5 litre of water and your flowers will open better and last longer.

Do these old wives tales work for treating flowers?

No - Lemonade, aspirins, or an old coin will not work and will just make the water murky.
The professional flower food florists use, is proven in scientific tests. (including our own Best Blooms tests)

Fill your vase with deep water for a cool drink for flowers

3. Give your Flowers a Deep Drink

Leave the bouquet wrapped and let your blooms have a deep drink for a few hours before unwrapping.

This will prevent damage to the flowers as you arrange them as the stems and blooms fill with water and go more turgid.

Is it true that Florists Hot water treat some Flowers?

Yes, there really are some fresh flowers that respond to a short pulse of very hot water. Chrysanthemums, Hydrangeas, even Roses will revive with this specialist treatment. But use with caution - Florists have been trained in how hot the water should be, how deep to have the hot water, and how long to leave them in the hot water for maximum results.

These special tips and techniques that professional florists use, to process and care for their fresh blooms, is what sets them apart. Longer lasting florals as opposed to buying flowers through, say a supermarket.

Using sharp scissors to cut tulip stems before arranging flowers

4. Use Clean Sharp tools on the Stems

Use a sharp knife or secateurs to cut 1 to 3cm off the bottom of the flower stem on an angle.

The angle cut means the flowers aren't sitting on the bottom of the vase and will allow for maximum water intake through the stems.

remove leaves that are going to be under water before arranging flowers

5. Clean the Flower Stems of Leaves that will sit under water.

Remove all the leaves from your flowers and foliage that are going to sit below the water.

Rotting leaves pollute the water very fast and are toxic to your fresh blooms.

6. Display your Flowers in the right place.

Find the perfect location in the house to display your beautiful bouquet, and follow these care tips:
Do not put flowers in the sun or in a draft or in front of the air-conditioning as this will cause them to wilt. Oh yes, and not on top of electrical appliances!

7. Keep Flowers away from Fruit

Did you know that putting your flowers near fruit will make them die quicker?
Yes it's true - Fruit gives off Ethylene gas which will have an effect on the life of your flowers.
(Yes the same ethylene from Car fumes, which sadly also affects flowers bought from flower sellers, dairies etc when flowers are displayed beside the traffic.)

to enjoydisplay your flowers in a special place in your home

8. Re-Cut the Flower Stems often

If you really want your flowers to last the longest - then please re cut them daily (or as often as you can) and put them into clean fresh water each time.

Re-cutting the flower stems removes dead and decaying tissue and allows uptake of lovely clean water. This will help your flowers last.

How Does a Florist look after their Flowers at Home?

At Best Blooms we take great care in conditioning our flowers when they arrive from the market and are diligent in flower care and vase hygiene in the florist shop.
But at home ... In truth most of us don't have time for all that!

Here's what I do ...
Take the leaves off the bottom, recut the stems and put them in a scrubbed clean vase with flower food.
Then a few days to a week later, I take them out, take off any spent blooms, leaves etc and recut them really short and place into a smaller, shorter vase as a posy. They will easily last for another week this way!

How To Care For Your Flower Arrangement in Oasis

You may have received a floral arrangement, which is a more compact design arranged into the wet florists foam called Oasis.

ADD WATER DAILY
As you will see on the care instructions included with your flowers, an arrangement really does need water added to the oasis every day as it does dry out quickly.

Most importantly of all - Enjoy your flowers - take time to "Smell the Roses", enjoy the blooms and think fondly of the caring person who bought them for you (even if it was You! :)

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