How to Care for Your Flowers

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Step one: prepare a vase

Choose a clean vase (give it a good scrub with hot water and soap if it’s looking a bit dusty) and fill it (about two thirds full) with clean water. Add the flower food that came with your bouquet. The food contains nutrients to feed your flowers, an acidifier to neutralise the water’s pH level and a sterilising agent to eradicate bacteria – in other words, it’ll help keep your blooms looking beautiful for longer. The flower food sachet packet is biodegradable, so pop it in your black bin.

Step two: take the flowers out of the packaging

Head to the sink. Gently ease the flowers out of the box, set that aside and put the flowers in their water bubble in the sink. Unwrap the cellophane and let the water drain out. The cellophane is biodegradable so pop it in your black bin, the rest of the packaging can be reused or recycled.

Top tip: Leave the flowers tied – this keeps them in the beautiful arrangement the florist has done.

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How to transfer your flowers into a vase

Step three: prepare the stems

To help the flowers take up water you need to trim the stems. Grab a clean chopping board and sharp, clean knife and cut 2cm off at an angle (angling your cut reduces the chance of accidentally crushing the stem and makes sure the stems don’t sit flat at the bottom of the vase, which could stop taking up water). If you don’t have a knife, use sharp secateurs or scissors.

Top tip: Gently strip away any leaves that will be below the water when the bouquet is in the vase, otherwise they’ll rot.

Step four: add your bouquet to the vase and find the perfect spot for it

Carefully add your bouquet to the vase, then find a spot for it away from direct sun and away from any draughty or hot spots that will cause your flowers to wilt or fade. No radiators or windowsills! Remember too that you should keep it away from little people and pets who might be tempted to munch the flowers – some can be harmful if they’re consumed. Lilies especially are toxic to cats.

Flower Care FAQs

Change the water every two days and recut the stems, keep removing dead flowers to stop bacteria spreading.

There are lots of myths out there about keeping your flowers fresh, and most of them are nonsense! Pennies don’t keep flowers fresh, and adding baking soda won’t make the flowers last longer either!

No – sugar will help bacteria grow. Use flower food instead, it’s got the perfect balance of things to keep your flowers happy. Salt water isn’t good for flowers either.

Don’t use vinegar or bleach for flowers, both could harm the blooms. Instead make sure they have a vase at least two thirds full of clean water and stems trimmed by 2cm at an angle.

Once the blooms have faded or wilted, there’s not much to be done unless you’d like to dry them – read our guide on how to dry flowers. You can compost them if you don’t want to dry them, and their nutrients might even help more flowers grow in future!

Treat it like a bouquet, pop it in a clean vase filled with fresh water and trim the stem. Refresh the water and trim the stem every two days.

If your roses have petals on the outside that look brown or a little worse for wear, don’t panic. These are guard petals, nature’s armour for roses to protect the more delicate inner petals. Our florists leave them on so the blooms don’t get bruised on the move. Once they’re safely with you, you can remove them – just give them a firm tug at the bottom and they’ll come away from the stem.

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