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10 Tips for Keeping Bouquets at Their Best

Source of Recipe

Yankee magazine


Recipe Link: www.yankeemagazine.com/garden/features/cutflowers.php

1. Don't worry about cutting flower stems at an angle if you're simply arranging them in a vase. It doesn't make much difference to the flower. But a slanted cut helps if you are using floral foam; a stem with a point is easier to insert.

2. Use a vase that's large enough to provide plenty of room for all the stems, with a mouth that's wide enough to allow for good air circulation. Display the bouquet away from full sun and hot and cold drafts. If you have a choice, keep it in a cool room.

3. Cut garden flowers in the morning or early evening, when the stalks are filled with water. Midday heat is stressful to plants, causing them to wither more readily when cut. Always use a sharp knife. Avoid scissors, which can pinch the water channels of the stalks. If possible, leave the flowers in a cool, dark spot for a few hours to let them stabilize before arranging.

4. If you want to shorten the stems on cut flowers before arranging them, cut their stems underwater; otherwise, the stem can take in too much air, causing a blockage that keeps water from the flower. (This is especially true of roses.) Floral-supply companies sell underwater cutters; or you can cut a flower in the garden, immediately submerge the stem in warm water, and cut it again in the house while holding it below the waterline.

5. Hold the cut stems of poppies, milkweed, and other flowers with milky stems in a candle flame for about 15 seconds immediately after cutting. This seals the latex in the stem but keeps the water-conducting vessels open. Otherwise, the latex substance can leak into the water and cause the water to spoil quickly. It can also affect the life of other flowers in the vase.

6. Remove all the leaves that will be underwater in your vase, and remove any leaves above water that you don't really need. Foliage that sits in water will rot quickly; it smells terrible and gives off ethylene gas, which shortens the vase life of cut flowers.

7. Add a preservative to the vase water. Get one from your local florist. Or use a simple home remedy -- any non-diet carbonated drink that contains lemon and sugar, the same ingredients as in a floral preservative: lemon to lower the pH, sugar to replace glucose that the plant has lost but needs, and carbonation to keep bacterial growth down. Play around with different solutions, even as strong as 50-50.

8. Don't put flowers into cold water. They prefer water that is 80°F to 110°F. You don't need to keep the water that warm in the vase, but always start off with warm, not chilly water. Even spring flowers like warm water.

9. Remove old blossoms and yellow leaves from aging bouquets. Change the water and preservative often -- ideally every other day.

10. If pollen falls onto your tablecloth, let it dry; then carefully brush it off with a soft brush, or dab pieces of adhesive or masking tape on the fabric until the pollen is gone. Don't use your hand; oil from your skin will set the stain.