Keep your flowers fresh with these
easy methods.

Unless your flowers arrive already arranged, quick action when you get them home will keep them fresh longer. (By the way, these tips also work to revive stale arrangements as you transfer the remaining healthy blooms to another container.)

• Using a sharp knife, trim off any leaves that will fall below the water line in the vase. Rotting foliage contaminates the water.
• Submerge the stem in warm water and cut off at least 1 inch. Cutting under water keeps the stem free of air bubbles, which can block the flow of water and nutrients to the flower head and result in bent necks and prematurely wilted blooms.
• Trim stems at an angle. The angle keeps the stem from standing flat on the vase bottom, which would slow water intake. An angled cut also makes it easier to insert the stem into floral foam or a water pick.

 

Cut your flowers in the cool
hours of the morning.

If you're lucky enough to have a flower garden, or access to a friend's, keep these tips in mind when harvesting your homegrown blooms.

• Cut flowers in the early morning, when temperatures are coolest. Use a sharp knife and cut about an inch above a leaf. Carry a bucket of warm water with you and immediately place the cut flower stems into it.
• When trimming thorns from roses, take care not to nick the stem. (Stem wounds allow air bubbles to enter.) Trim the sharp tips only, angling the knife blade away from the stem (and you).