How To Keep Your Flowers Fresh As Long As Possible

Every time someone has gotten me flowers, I had the same exact thought running through my head — great, now I have to take care of these things. I used to feel bad about thinking that, but now I realize that most of us don't know how to keep flowers fresh longer. Everyone scrambles to take care of their beautiful flowers that their loved ones got them ... and we all collectively fail at it. I know I have.

Thanks to a lovely YouTube video from Reactions, we can now all learn what makes flowers last longer. Turns out the biology class we took in high school wasn't useless after all. In fact, a lot of the things we learned in it are very much applicable to the gorgeous flowers sitting on my countertop right now. Here's to hoping they don't die by the end of the week! A girl can dream. Actually, thanks to this video my flowers will most likely gain an extra week of life. If you want to learn the secrets to keeping your own flowers fresh, I suggest watching the instructive video below.

It starts of by explaining every tip it gives in detail, illustrating why you should be implementing them. The video breaks down the science behind each step, and even gives a follow-up piece of advice just because it can! Oh how I wish videos like this existed for car maintenance. Until such a day, I'll be over here, cutting flowers under warm water at a 45 degree angle. That's right. Bet you didn't know that was important, right?

First Step: Cleaning

Flowers use their stems to deliver water throughout it's body. Your job is to make it as easy as possible, and to maximize the delivery speed. That is why the first thing that the video recommended is cleaning your vase out before putting in your flowers. This step prevents microbes and bacteria from growing and harming your flower's stem. For best results, clean the vase every day.

Second Step: Water

The video instructs its viewers to put flowers in warm water after it has cooled off on your counter for a few minutes. Waiting a little bit before placing the flowers inside gets rid of any oxygen trapped inside of the molecules. Those molecules would have been the ones blocking water from passing inside of the stem.

Third Step: Flower Food

Flowers, like humans, need food. That's where that little packet that usually comes with the flowers is needed. Inside are a few ingredients that help keep the flowers looks great.

Bleach kills off any of the bacteria that would still be floating inside of the water.

Citric acid and sugar helps feed the plant. The video advises not to put straight sugar into the water, since bugs like it too. Also — make sure not to put your plant near any fruit! Fruit release chemicals that signal ripening. Unless you want your bouquet to decompose faster, keep it away from those apples.

Final Step: Cutting Your Flowers

In order for your flowers to get as much water as possible, you'll want to cut the stem at a 45 degree angle. This exposes the most xylem surface to the water! More xylem equals more water, and more water means longer lasting flowers.

Hopefully this helps you get your money's worth on any flowers you send or receive!

Images: YouTube; Pexels