Enjoying Fresh Cut Flowers

You may or may not know this about me but I LOVE flowers!  And fresh cut flowers are my favorite. I love flower gardens too but the few flowers I have tried growing I can never bring myself to cut the beautiful blooms.  So I rely on the flower farmers who know what they are doing to do the cutting for me!  However, because I love fresh cut flowers so much, I have been trying to learn how best to take care of them once I get them home from the market.

Some of the tips that I share below I have learned from various resources over the years but I have also picked up a few of these tips recently from one of my favorite books - Handpicked: Simple, Sustainable, and Seasonal Flower Arrangements by Brooklyn-based florist, Ingrid Carozzi of Tin Can Studios.  So whether you are buying or receiving your fresh cut flowers, here are a few basics steps for how best to care for and enjoy those beautiful blooms for as long as possible:

•     Use a clean vase or vessel for your fresh cut flowers.

•     Depending on the type of flowers you have, adjust the water temperature you put your flowers in. (This is one tip I learned from Ingrid’s book and it is spot on!)

  • Flowers with soft stems, such as tulips, daffodils, and irises, like cold water.

  • Flowers with medium-soft stems, such as carnations, mums, lilies, and peonies, like lukewarm water.

  • Flowers with hard or woody stems, such as roses, lilacs, and hydrangeas, like warm water.

  • Mixed arrangements do best in lukewarm water.

•     Cut the stems and remove any leaves that are left on the stem that would potentially be below the water level in your vase.

•     Use the little packs of flower food that come with your fresh cut flowers.  Those packets are full of nutrient-rich food that help nourish your blooms and fight bacteria, so don’t toss those packets, use them!

•     Keep your fresh cut flowers away from any fresh fruit. The natural gases that are emitted from the fruit can cause those fresh blooms to wilt more quickly.

•     Refresh the water if it gets too grimy or cloudy.  And don’t forget to add more plant food to your water if you refresh the water.

Because flowers bring so much happiness and beauty to any space or place, I hope these tips will help you enjoy and extend that happiness and beauty for as long as possible. So the next time you’re at your local market, grab yourself some fresh cut flowers and enjoy!

Happy Spring!
Michele