If you are like me, you absolutely love fresh cut flowers in your room, but does it worth the effort and/or expense?

For me it does. It’s just absolutely heartwarming when I see the room light up with color, but I hate when my flowers die.
Over the years I tried to expand the life of my flowers with different tricks I heard from friends or neighbors, or I found researching online.

These are just some of the ones I have found:
– First thing before you put your flowers in a vase is to make sure the vase is absolutely clean. I always use vinegar or bleach to wipe the inside of the vase before putting my flowers into the vase, just to make sure there are no bacteria’s left in the vase.

– I use vinegar not just to clean the vase but I add some even to the water, to make sure the water stays bacteria free. Keeping cut flowers looking good for a longer time means minimizing the growth of bacteria in the water and making sure they have all the nutrients they need. I add 2 Tbsp. of vinegar and stir. The vinegar helps inhibit the growth of bacteria and keeps your flowers fresher longer. If you don’t have vinegar a few drops of vodka (or any clear spirit) will do the trick. Even a copper penny and a cube of sugar to the vase water will have the same result. The penny is thought to act like an acidifier, which prevents the growth of bacteria.

– I always add a small mixture of aspirin, and a teaspoon of sugar to the water as the carbohydrates from the sugar feed the stems. The sugar will help nourish the flowers and promote the opening of the blooms.

– Remove all the lower leaves from the plant so no leaves end up in the vase. I do this because the leaves break down in the water can cause bacteria to form

– Before submerging my flowers I cut the stem in a 45-degree angle

– Try not to jam too many flowers into 1 vase because they will die quicker. Also, don’t leave your flower arrangement in the sun that will cause your flowers to die faster. They are not growing anymore, so sunlight it’s not beneficial for them anymore

– Make sure you change the water often and give your stems a fresh angle cut every time you change the water – at least every other day.

– If your flowers came with “flower food”, don’t use it all at once. Every time you change the water, add a small quantity to the changed water. The “flower food” contains sugar, an acidifier, and bleach most of the time.

– Keep flowers away from appliances, like televisions and computers, which give off heat and can cause flowers to dehydrate.

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Lots of people are obsessed with keeping their flowers alive for longer periods. One of my neighbors is putting her flowers in the refrigerator overnight. What? Yes, and if you think better the flower shop keeps them in a cooling box, they are transported in temperature controlled truck and temperature controlled shipping containers.
I remember a wedding I was attending as a helper for a wedding organizer. The truck that was supposed to bring the flowers to the wedding location in Norcross, GA broke down with all the flowers inside. Luckily they could still control the temperature inside but we still needed a way to get the truck with the flowers to us. This is where tow trucks come in handy. Just a quick call and the tow truck pulled the flower truck to the reception location and we managed to get all the flowers out. I’m glad that Anna (the wedding organizer) did not freak out and had the awesome idea to call the towing truck from Norcross.
So yes, if you want to max out the life of your flowers put them in the refrigerator overnight 