A fresh flower bouquet is pleasant to look at whether at the office or when you receive it as a gift. Bouquets come in various sizes and shapes and are ideal gifts to show love and appreciation. However, flowers don’t last forever, for instance, fresh roses can last up to 7 days. It is essential to take care of your cut bouquets, especially in the UAE where it’s hot, to ensure that you enjoy their fragrance and natural beauty as long as possible.
Giving Cut Flowers as a Gift
Today, we give flowers to express human emotions to loved ones. You can communicate your love or appreciation to someone by sending them a bouquet. The art of flower giving has a rich history that is evident in tales, myths, and history dating back to ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt, and China.
Different flowers have different meanings and should only be given when you want to express certain feelings. For instance, roses stand out from other flowers, come in many varieties, and each has a meaning. A red rose symbolizes passion and is used to show love. White roses show innocence and humility, yellow roses are for friendship, and pink roses express gratitude, white carnations signify love, light red express admiration, dark red signify deep love and affection, and pink carnations express a mother’s undying love and affection. Sunflowers are warm and bright. Their colorful yellow petals give them a sun-like appearance that can brighten anyone’s day. They signify longevity, loyalty, and adoration. Sunflowers are the perfect gift for any occasion and are known as the ‘happy flower’.
How to Make Your Bouquet Thrive?
Flowers are awesome accessories to add to any space with their bright colors, but drooping stems and wilting leaves will have an opposite effect. If you want your flowers to thrive longer, follow these simple but effective tips;
Put the Bouquet in Water
Flowers start dying when they are cut because you remove them from their source of nourishment. It is essential to order from your local florist delivery to get perky fresh flowers. Fresh flowers look vibrant and last longer.
As soon as you get your bouquet, hold the stems under a running tap and cut at an angle 2.5cm away from the ends. Hold the stems under lukewarm water and use sharp scissors and pruners to snip the ends of the stems. If you have flowers with long stems, you have to cut more.
It is essential to trim the leaves below the watermark to prevent them from falling in the water and rotting or attracting bacteria. If bacteria grow in the water, they compromise the health of the stems and prevent them from absorbing water. Cutting the stems creates a large surface area for better effective water absorption.
Use a Clean Vase
Before transferring your blooms to a vase, wash it with soapy water and rinse it thoroughly. Leaving your vase on the shelf can collect dust and wiping it off might not be effective. Washing the vase thoroughly eliminates bacteria that can cause faster wilting. Although you can use any vase you want, choose the one that allows adequate space for all the stems. Avoid shoving or forcing the stems in the vase to avoid bruising or breaking them.
Nourishment
Cut flowers don’t get nourishment from the soil because they no longer have roots that is why you need to use flower food. Fill ½ or ¾ of your vase with lukewarm water and then add the contents of the flower food in the water. Stir until the contents are dissolved. If your bouquet has blooms that grow from bulbs like hyacinths and tulips, use cold water.
Flower food is essential because it contains an acid that helps the flowers absorb water, chemicals that fight and kill bacteria, and sugars that provide nourishment. You can also make your own flower food but the commercially-bought one is better. Next, submerge the cut stems in the vase with the flower food. Ensure that the ends of the stems touch the bottom of the vase to ensure that they absorb water.
Display
Cut flowers are sensitive to various elements that is why you need to display them mindfully. Flowers look so bright that you are tempted to display them next to a window on a sunny day. However, the sun can fade and dry the petals of your flowers and cause them to droop.
Place the blooms away from heating systems and warm appliances to prevent drying. It is essential to also display your bouquet away from fans to prevent the strong winds from blowing the petals off. One of the best ways to preserve your flowers is to store them in the refrigerator overnight and then display them during the day.
It’s not advisable to display your bouquet next to fresh produce. Although flowers might look lovely next to a fruit bowl, the produce will compromise the health and life of the bouquet. Fresh vegetables and fruits like bananas produce ethylene gas that causes flowers to mature and die faster.
Change the Water
Cut flowers require you to change the water every other day for them to keep thriving. Pour out the old dirty water, wash the vase, and fill it with clean water and flower food before placing the bouquet back into the vase. Remove any dead leaves and re-cut the stems before placing the flowers back in the vase. Cloudy, smelly water is a sign of bacterial growth in the vase. Re-cutting the stems helps them to absorb water effectively because they close up with time.
Check Your Flowers Daily
Check the blooms daily to ensure that they have enough, clean water. Also, ensure that you add flower food every time you change the water. Check for any dead or wilting leaves or petals and remove them to prevent infection.
Although fresh flowers can make a difference in a room, they don’t last forever, but you can prolong their lives by following these steps. You can find perky fresh flowers at BloomingBox.
