When you cut flowers they will fade, you cannot stop it.Follow these simple tips however and you will be amazed at how much life you can get out your flowers and how good they can really look.
1.) Make sure the glass vase you use is well cleaned. If there have been other flowers or plants used previously in the same vase, clean it out thoroughly to get rid of any plant chemicals or bacteria than have probably built up
2.) If you are using your own flowers, pick them either in the early morning or in the evening. This is when the flower is coolest and will help it survive. The flowers have more food stored in their body in the early morning than any other time so this is really the best time to harvest
3.) For your own flowers, place them in a bucket of water up to their heads overnight to allow them to soak up as much as possible. Brought flowers have already been subject to this so there is no need to do it again for them.
4.) When you cut the flower stems, cut at an angle to expose as much of the inner stem as possible. This is create the largest contact surface area on the stem, giving it the best chance to soak up water.
5.) Place the flowers in maybe a nice crystal vase with the water about 3/4 of the way up the stem. Make sure you use a feed that has a biocide, and acidifier and sugar. The biocide will kill and bacteria or fungus, the acidifier helps the flower soak up water and the sugar provides the plant with food.
6.) Make sure you change the water every couple of days rather than just top it up. This will supply the stem with clean fresh water and will get rid all the surrounding dead cells in the water
7.) If the base of the stems get dirty or clogged up, take the flowers out and re-cut the stems a little further up.
Follow the above tips and you can enjoy your flowers for much longer than you thought possible
