I thought I would share some advice with you for getting the best from your British grown flowers. Most of these tips are really simple, and do make a huge difference to the vase life of the flowers. This information is also applicable if you are buying a bucket of flowers to use for a wedding or event.
If you do nothing else, do this:
Use a very clean vase and keep the water topped up – British Flowers can drink a lot! Change the water every few days and keep in a cool place, out of direct sunlight, away from radiators if possible.
Also, keep your flowers away from fruit makes a difference because ripening fruit gives off a gas that hastens the ripening of your flowers which means that they want to go to seed. Not a good look in a vase!
If the stems have been out of water when you receive them, cut a bit off the ends at an angle. If you’ve been travelling with them and they are wilting, put in cool water in a cool dark room for an hour and they should perk up!
Finally, remove any blooms as they die so that they don’t detract from your arrangement.
Please remember to wash your hands after handling flowers because the sap can cause irritation and some flowers may be poisonous.
When looking after a bunch of spring flowers, it is important not to recut the stems of any narcissi (daffodils).
The sap released from narcissi can contaminate the vase water and shorten the vase life of the other flowers.
The narcissi have been carefully conditioned before they reach you to ensure that this doesn’t happen in your bouquet.
There are loads of stories of things that will improve vase life, eg putting a penny in the vase, adding half an aspirin tablet etc. Out of the handful of these I have tried, nothing worked better than changing the water in the vase everyday. Simple and easy!
With every bouquet I deliver I include a flower care card so you know what to do to get the longest vase life from your bouquet.
