Simple tips to keep your blooms looking fresh longer

Simple tips to keep your blooms looking fresh longer

Welcome to the monthly Cozy Living series.  Each month a group of us get together to share  the various ways we create and make our homes and lives more cozy and memorable. Our hope is that  it hopefully inspires you to do the same in your own home. All the links are at the end of this post.

Today I wanted to share a few simple tips to keep your blooms looking fresh longer. Whether you cut flowers from your own garden or pick up a bunch from the store one thing is certain, we want our blooms to look fresh as long as we can. Nothing warms up a space like some pretty colorful flowers unlike dead, dried out stems that can kill the mood, right? 

Most (but not all) of the cut blooms that you see over here on the blog are from the property, like these rhododendrons . Which by the way, make the perfect cut flower. I know many people who have these bushes but never knew that the blooms make beautiful arrangements. I plant most of the bushes and plants around the farm so I can enjoy cut stems in the house during the spring and summer months.

These are a few of the gardens around the property. I am happy to enjoy my bounty of gorgeousness provided by mother nature. Not everything that I plant gets cut and brought inside. There’s plenty left to enjoy outdoors. All of the landscape was designed and planted by us during the 15 years that we have lived on the property. I’ll have to show you some before and after’s one day of the land and all of the improvements we made since we bought it. It was basically hardwoods and scrub. You wouldn’t even recognize it.

Simple tips to keep your blooms looking fresh longer

I’ve tried lots of things over the years to keep my blooms looking pretty longer ( bleach, floral preservative, sprite) but honestly the tips below seem to work best for me.  Everybody seems to have their own little secret weapon but good ole fresh water is my choice.

Cut your stems

If your blooms need to be snipped, cut about one inch off the bottom on a 45 degree angle with sharp scissors or floral snips. When cutting at an angle, it allows the stem to take up a larger amount of water. I will also repeat this step every few days or if sooner if needed

Keep the foliage above the water line

It’s not a good idea to leave any foilage on your flowers and submerge in water while in the vase. Not only will this produce lots of bacteria in your water but it will also have that horrible stench. When you remove the leaves and small flower buds it will redistribute all the flowers energy to the main blooms which in turn will keep it alive longer.

Use cold water in your vase

When filling your vase up use cold water instead of luke warm. Warm water actually promotes the flower to open up faster, which is what you don’t want if you want the flowers to stay fresh longer.

Place your flowers in a cool spot while indoors

Ever walk into a florist and see all the arrangements waiting on the counter? No, because they are in coolers so they can stay fresh longer. If your home is warm during the summer months, think about putting your arrangements in your refrigerator over night. If your flowers are in a cool spot without direct sunlight, they will stay fresher longer.

I hope some of these simple tips will help you to keep your blooms looking fresher longer. If you have your own tip, let me know in a comment. I would love to hear what you do.

Don’t forget to visit the other blogs sharing today.

Town and Country Living  –  Vinyet Etc.  –  Duke Manor Farm  –  Finding Silver Pennies