Extend the life of your flowers with these tips!

We looooove fresh flowers in the home! It’s a little luxury in life that we think is more than worth the expense, especially when with a bit of care you can significantly extend the life of your flowers. Here’s how…

Related article: The tips and tricks to styling your coffee table with ease
Related article: 12 reasons why you’re killing your indoor plants: How to keep indoor plants alive

Close up details of dining

1. Use the plant food sachet

Good florists will provide a sachet of plant food that you can add to the water of your fresh flowers. Plant food will help your cut flowers stay alive by providing the nutrients and clean environment they need.

2. Then keep feeding your flowers with DIY plant food

If you aren’t provided with plant food or you change the water and want to replace the nutrients, you can make your own plant food at home by simply mixing 1 teaspoon of raw sugar and 1 teaspoon of household bleach into the water.

It sounds weird to add bleach to the water (isn’t it toxic?!) but according to head florist at Barton Flower Bar, it helps to keep the water clean and aids the flowers to drink.

Make your own plant food
Make your own plant food with bleach, water and sugar

3. Refresh the stems

You hear this a lot but how often do you really do it? Regularly trimming the stems of your flowers can help extend the life of them to up 3 weeks!

The stems of your flowers become blocked over time so simply trimming them on a 45 degree angle will reopen them and create the maximum surface area to take in water and nutrients.

4. Regularly change water

Fresh flowers need a lot of water! Replace the water in the vase at least every 2-3 days and notice how much longer they last.

5. Remove dead flowers and leaves

Just because one or two flowers have wilted, doesn’t mean you need to throw away the whole bunch!

Removing dead flowers or foliage before they drop into the water of the vase will prevent them deteriorating in the water where they can become mouldy. Also remove all leaves from the stems below the water line.

Extend the life of your flowers by trimming flower stems
Extend the life of your flowers by trimming flower stems

6. Give new life with a bit of foraging

As you remove any dead flowers or branches from your bouquet you can bulk up the arrangement by doing a little foraging of your own.

It’s becoming more popular to incorporate greenery you would find in a common garden into floral arrangements so look for Ivy, Magnolia or Camellia.

7. Quality supplier

Of course, it’s easier to extend the life of your flowers if you buy them from a quality supplier that brings them in fresh.

Support your local florist, such as Pearsons Florist that offers flower delivery in Sydney, as they will source the freshest flowers. Many florists are also happy to work with you to create arrangements to suit your interior style or colour scheme.

Do you have any other tips to extend the life of cut flowers? We’d love you to share any tips to keep flowers looking fresh in the comments below!

Check out more plant care tips here

Extend the life of your flowers
Gina Beschorner Style Curator

Welcome to Style Curator, your destination for daily interiors inspiration, styling tips, reno advice, home tours and DIY projects!

We're on a mission to help you create a home you love. And with plenty of tips and tricks, tutorials and other home inspo, we give you all the tools to achieve it!

I’m Gina, Founder and Interior Designer, and you can read more about Style Curator here.

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