Caring for your Valentine Flowers

Valentine's week is upon us. And with roses being the most popular floral gift by far, you may be the lucky recipient of a beautiful bouquet sometime soon. You'll enjoy them longer if you follow a few simple care steps.



First, it's important to note that no amount of care will revive blooms that were not properly handled before purchase. A good florist will follow the important "chain of life" for all their flowers, as well as purchasing from suppliers that follow it, too. This will assure your bouquet a long vase life.








Now that your flowers are in hand, what do you do with them? If you received cut flowers, they will need to be hydrated. To achieve this, simply prepare your clean vase with the package of preservative that arrived with your flowers. Then, using a clean, sharp knife, recut all the stems, preferably underwater. They're now ready to be placed in your vase. Using a knife rather than scissors keeps the stems from being crushed, which shortens their vase life.




Change the water ever few days,
using more flower food if you have it.
Old 'remedies' such as pennies, bleach, or lemon soda are not useful or recommended! Remember to recut the stems at this time, as well.


At some point, your roses or other blooms will be very short, but this is no reason to toss them out! Get creative and find interesting small containers to showcase your short beauties. This little metal birdsnest container holds just 3 blooms, but what impact!













If you would like to dry your roses on the stem, it's best to do that before they die off completely. Hang them heads-down in a cool dry place out of direct sunlight.


Once your Valentine flowers have moved past their prime, you'll no doubt want more, and Bloomers can help, whether a simple bunch of daisies, or an unusual arrangement of mixed beauties.

If you enjoyed this post, you may be interested in last week's entry, "Why Buy Valentine Flowers"

: