Ingrid's Floral Tips # 4

This is the fourth in my series of Ingrid's Floral Tips. I will give you links to the first three at the end of the post.

This post is about how to take care of your flowers once you have conditioned them and made up the arrangement at home.

# 1. Flowers will last longer if you put them in a cool place at night.

# 2.  Avoid putting your flower arrangement too close to any heat source like a radiator or heater, in a window with direct sunlight or close to any electronic equipment that gives off heat.

# 3. Change the water in the vase every couple of days and at the same time if possible re-cut the stems. This might not always be practical - as you don't want the arrangement to fall apart or if it means that the flower stems would end up too short in the vase.

# 4. If you have a large arrangement and you don't want to take the flowers out of the vase - one trick to change the water in the vase - is to put the whole arrangement vase and all in the sink under the running tap and let the water run clear in the vase. 

You have to be able to pick up the vase - it might be very heavy when full of flowers and water, the sink has to be deep enough for the vase to fit under the tap and you have to dry the outside of the vase - but if you can do that then you are OK.

# 5. Keep flowers away from fruit and vegetables. Ripening fruit produce ethylene gas that will make your flowers wilt faster. 

# 6. Remove any wilted or fading flowers as they appear in order to keep the rest of the flowers looking nice and healthy. 

# 7. Some flowers in an arrangement will last longer then others and it might not look as nice as it did to begin with. Then don't be afraid to de-construct the whole arrangement. Discard any faded flowers, cut the stems shorter and make up several smaller arrangements. 

Maybe use bud vases or make up a collection of bottles with just one stem in each or make new arrangements in some jam jars. 

# 8. Always make sure that any container you use is watertight. If you use a glass vase you can obviously be certain - but if you use a vintage vase or container of any other material you can never be certain. Pottery, china and metal are all to be treated with suspicion! I have learnt this from bitter experience and ruined many surfaces. If you are not sure - always put some kind of plate, tray or dish under the vase.  

Here are links to the previous three posts:

Ingrid's Floral Tips # 1 - Where to Buy Cut Flowers.

Ingrid's Floral Tips # 2 - How to Choose Your Cut Flowers.

Ingrid's Floral Tips # 3 - How to Condition Your Flowers.

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Have a Wonderful Floral Day!

Back soon!

xoxo Ingrid

[Styling and photography: © Ingrid Henningsson for Of Spring and Summer.]