Extend the Life of your Spring Floral

Warmer temperatures are approaching and ushering in sunnier days. With the arrival of Spring comes the emergence of seasonal floral and beautiful new growth. And what better way to brighten a room, a day or a scenic view than with flowers? Though they sadly can’t last forever, there are many tips and tricks to extending the life of your cut Spring floral arrangements. But what really works? We asked the Blackberry Floral team for their advice.

Wanting to extend the life of your cut arrangements all begins with picking an appropriate vase to display them in. You want to ensure that the vase isn’t too wide, leaving your flowers extending too far over the edge and falling towards the ground, and you’ll want to make sure that the vase isn’t too short or not wide enough, which could make the flowers feel suffocated and crushed. Before your flowers are cut and arranged, start by holding one of them up to the vase to check the height. The mouth of your vase should fall between two and three inches from the bottom of your flower’s head, and the number of flowers you’ll be placing in the vase should still allow some wiggle room for growth and breathability.

Once you’ve found the correct stem length and the appropriate number of stems for your vase, start cutting the stems to that length, beginning with a small amount off the bottom of each. When cutting your stems, be sure each cut is made diagonally with sharp scissors or gardening shears for as clean and precise a cut as possible. This will allow your flowers to intake the proper amount of water.

The next important element is water! First, make sure you have clean, room temperature water for your flowers. Adding something like ice cubes would make the water temperature extremely cold and can shock the flowers once they come in contact with it. Room temperature water allows an easy shift between the flower’s natural environment to where they will now be displayed. Once your flowers are placed in water, freshen the water every two to three days by completely discarding the current water, cleaning the vase with mild soap, rinsing thoroughly and replacing with fresh water. Also, keep in mind what kind of flowers you group together to share space and water. Some flowers may not play well with others, and adding them together may cause certain stems to wilt and die off faster due to the toxicity in the water from other varieties.

Last but not least, flowers need the nutrients from food to survive. As we know, most store-bought flowers come with their own little packet of flower food, but did you know that you can make your own? With water, lemon juice, sugar and a tiny bit of bleach, your flowers can live much longer than with water alone. For an extra boost, and to slow down wilting, add a few drops of standard vodka to your vase water. This helps them to stand tall and keep their petals a little longer.

With these tips, we hope your Spring flowers flourish and brighten up your home all season long!

Click here to book your next getaway and experience Spring coming to life at Blackberry Mountain!

Click here to book your next getaway and experience Spring coming to life at Blackberry Farm!