How to Make Cut Flowers Last Longer

Most bouquets die days earlier than they need to, and almost always for the same handful of reasons. None of them are difficult to fix.

Cut the stems, and cut them on an angle

Take a centimetre off every stem before the flowers go in water, using a sharp knife or sharp scissors rather than blunt kitchen ones. The angle matters because a flat cut can sit against the bottom of the vase and seal itself shut. Blunt blades crush the stem instead of slicing it, which does the same thing.

Do it again every few days. A stem seals over as it sits, and a fresh cut reopens it.

Change the water every two days

This is the single highest-value thing on this page, and it is the one nobody does. Flowers do not die of thirst, they die of bacteria: the water goes cloudy, the bacteria block the stems, and the flowers wilt with a full vase underneath them.

Rinse the vase properly when you change it. A quick refill on top of old water achieves very little.

Use the flower food, and use all of it

The sachet is not a gimmick. It carries sugar to feed the bloom, an acidifier to help the stems drink, and a small amount of biocide to slow the bacteria down. Half a sachet in twice the water does not work; follow what is on the packet.

Strip any leaves below the waterline

A leaf sitting under water rots within a day and turns the whole vase. Anything below the water goes.

The four things quietly killing your flowers

• The fruit bowl. Ripening fruit gives off ethylene gas, which tells a flower it is time to finish. A bouquet next to bananas ages visibly faster.
• Direct sun. A sunny windowsill feels like the right spot and is the worst one. Flowers last longest somewhere bright but out of the sun.
• Air conditioning and fans. Moving air dries petals out. Keep the vase out of the draught.
• Heat. On the Gold Coast this is the big one. Every degree shortens the vase life.

Should you refrigerate them?

Not in a domestic fridge, no. Household fridges are dry and full of ethylene from the food. If you need to hold flowers for a few hours before an event, a cool dark room is better than anything in your kitchen.

What to expect, realistically

Well kept, most cut flowers give you five to ten days. Chrysanthemums, carnations and orchids run longer. Roses and lilies sit in the middle, and lilies keep opening buds for days after they arrive, which is why they look better in the middle of their life than at the start. Anything very soft-stemmed is short by nature and worth enjoying rather than nursing.

If you would rather not think about any of this, a potted plant is measured in months and years instead of days.

Sending flowers to someone who will not do a single one of these things? A boxed arrangement arrives in its own vessel with the water already sorted, which is one honest way around the problem.