Tips and tricks to keep flowers looking fresh

Everyone enjoys having a bouquet of flowers out on display, but it can be hard to keep them looking their best for as long as possible.  So here are some tips and tricks for keeping your cut flowers looking healthy and happy for days.

1. Cut stems



When you get home with your flowers, cut the stems about an inch from the bottom before immediately putting them in water.  Even a few minutes out of a vase will allow a cap to form on the stem, preventing it from taking up as much water as it can.  Cutting the stem reveals fresh, open cells that are ready to soak up moisture and keep the flower from decaying.

2. Treating water



Treat the water in your vase with a flower food powder, which gives the stems glucose to use as food, acid to keep the pH of the water ideal, and bleach to prevent the growth of bacteria that might harm your flowers.  If you don't have flower food, you can make your own with this recipe.  Putting a penny in your vase will also keep fungus or bacteria away, due to the copper (a natural fungicide).

3.  Refrigerate your flowers



There's a reason florist shops keep flowers in a large refrigerator: it slows the decay of the cells (read our previous post about the importance of keeping flowers cold)  Place your arrangement or bouquet in the fridge overnight to keep it perky during the day.  Never use the crisper drawer though, the temperature in there is too cold for flowers and will kill them.

4. Location, location, location



Never put your arrangement or bouquet in direct sun or near drafts.  Keep them somewhere cool with indirect sunlight.  Good locations are away from vents, windows, and bright lights.

5. Misting



Many cut flowers will appreciate being misted with cool water.  Hydrangeas, (pictured above) especially enjoy having their heads dunked completely underwater for a few hours to perk up if they start drooping.

So do you have any tips for keeping arrangements and bouquets fresh for days?  Let us know your tricks in a comment below.

THIS WEEKS CODE WORD IS VASE!  Mention it on your next visit for BOGO on loose roses!  Thanks for reading the blog!

-Your flower loving friends at Hummingbird Floral

The secret to buying the freshest flowers

If you talk to any designer here at Hummingbird, they'll tell you that the most important step in making sure your flowers stay fresh for the longest time is by maintaining the cold cycle.  Some of our flowers come from as far away as Holland and South America, so keeping them in optimal condition as they are transported is crucial to extending their lives. But what is the cold cycle, and why is it so important?

A typical display cooler for arrangements

The cold cycle is what floral designers like to call the process of keeping cut flowers at low temperatures from the time that they are harvested to when they are purchased.  Cold temperatures (from 38-40 degrees Fahrenheit) keep the cells in a flower sluggish and slows them from using up their stores of nutrients, which prevents decay for as long as possible.

The cycle begins when the flowers are cut from the areas where they are grown.  After they're bundled together and packaged to be shipped, they're placed in cooled waiting areas, where the cycle begins.

The flowers are taken to the airport in refrigerated trucks and put on a temperature controlled plane (near the back, where it's coldest), and sent to their various destinations.

When flowers arrive at the wholesaler, they remain at optimal temperatures until they're bought by floral stores like ours and again put on a cooled truck to be taken to their final stop in the cold chain: our coolers.

Our Cooler

A good floral store will never leave flowers out at room temperature for long periods of time.  Floral designers use temperature change to their advantage.  Flowers that have tight petals that need to open (like daisies or lilies) are exposed to warmer air to open up so they can be used right away.  Flowers that don't need to be used for a few days are kept in their packaging and left on shelves in the cooler to stay fresh.

So, the cold cycle is integral to making sure flowers stay as fresh as possible.  From the fields they are grown in to your home, Hummingbird Floral uses the cold cycle to make sure you're getting the best flowers you can.

What do you think?  How long do your flowers usually last?  Do you have a secret tip to make them last longer.  Share it with us in a comment below.

-Your flower-loving friends at Hummingbird