Top Tips

Getting the best out of your flowers is easy and rewarding. By following a few simple tips your flowers will stay fresher and better looking for longer.

• Buy your flowers when the buds are beginning to show some colour.
• Only buy fresh flowers. Do not buy anything with yellow or wilted leaves.
• When you get them home put them in some clean water for a few hours before you take off the wrapping. This allows them to rehydrate and makes them less susceptible to damage while arranging.
• Make sure your vase has been scrubbed using a brush. Microorganisms can lay dormant from the last time the vase was used, they can quickly pollute the water making it cloudy and smelly.
• Add flower food to clean vase water; your flowers will open better and last longer. Make sure you use the right quantity.
• Cut 1 to 3 centimetres off the stems at an angle with a sharp knife. Never break or flatten stems; this also applies to woody stems.
• Remove all leaves that will sit below the waterline. They pollute the water and shorten the life of your flowers.
• Keep your flowers out of direct sunlight and draughts as much as possible as this can wilt them. Keep in mind that the sun moves, a nice spot in the morning may be flower hell in the afternoon.
• Do not put your flowers next to a fruit bowl. Fruit (especially apples and bananas) give off a ripening gas that will reduce the life of your flowers.
• Keep an eye on the water level, some flowers are very thirsty.
• Leave daffodils in their own vase of water to ‘slime-out’ for a day before you mix them with other flowers.