Top Tips For Cut Flower Care
DO
Keep your flowers in a cool place until you can get them in water with the flower food supplied.
1. Make sure vases are cleaned thoroughly before use. Wash with a detergent or antibacterial cleaning solution
2. Use fresh lukewarm water with the cut flower food added as supplied with your bouquet.
3. Strip all leaves that are below the water level.
4. Take at least 3cm (1") off the stems, making a slanted cut with sharp scissors.
5. Avoid direct sunlight, heat, or draughts.
6. Keep flowers as far away from fruit as possible and remove faded flowers as they occur.
7. Top up the water regularly and add flower food in proportion.
DON'T
Smash or pierce the stems, or use blunt scissors, as this destroys the water vessels and inhibits water uptake. Bacteria will multiply more quickly and over a larger area. It also causes the flower undue stress which will shorten its life.
Mix daffodils and narcissi with other flowers. They emit latex from their stems when cut, which shortens the life of other flowers. Keep daffodils on their own in vases, or use special bulb cut flower food which makes them safe to mix with other flowers. You can place the daffodils in a bucket of water for at least 12 hours on their own and then arrange them with other flowers, making sure you do not cut the stem again.
Put flowers near ripening fruit – it releases ethylene gas which prematurely ages flowers. Dying flowers also do this, so always remove them from the vase.
Place flowers in a draught, or in bright sunlight which encourages bacteria or in over warm rooms.
Put copper coins, aspirin, lemonade, or bleach in the water. - they don't work.
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