Hello my fellow flower lovers!
I really hope you're doing well! This week for #APRflowerEd I wanted to share a tip that might not be so well known to help your flowers last as long as they should or a bit longer. There are definitely methods we all know ... or hopefully know by now, include changing the water every second day or so, using a clean vase, snipping the stems of your flowers on a 45 degree angle each time you change the water, ensuring there are no leaves below the waterline, keep them out of direct sunlight and heaters, away from fruit and veg, maybe adding some flower preservative or bleach in the water. So many things you can do.
One of my favourite things to do when I have a bouquet or vase arrangement is spend a couple of days admiring the arrangement as is and then pulling the arrangement completely apart! Yep! That's my tip! I sort the flowers into smaller groups and get a bunch of little vases/bud vases or even glass jars and I'll put a few flowers—maybe more, maybe less, depending on the kind of flower—in them and pop them in a cluster on a table or put them around the house.
You're probably wondering why I'd do this and how I could break up a beautiful arrangement but I'll tell ya why and let's see if this is not a brilliant idea haha. And I get that this won't be for everyone as it's more work than just letting it slowly die in its arrangement but it's good to know in any case. I get the time to enjoy the creativity of the arrangement with its pairings etc but I believe that being squished together means that they get all mushy at the bind (where it's being held together by twine/string) which can weaken or break the stems.
It's especially handy when there are flowers that can be dried or are already preserved/dried. You'd want to save those before they get mouldy and just go ahead and hang those ones upside down. It makes sense to me seeing as each flowers has a different lifespan, which means that the flowers with a shorter lifespan will die quicker and if we leave them in amongst the flowers with longer lifespans it could actually set them off earlier. So you may have done all the typical life prolonging things I mentioned above, well now you can also try this!
This is purely my opinion though and is not a must like the methods mentioned above are. I also love the idea of having fresh flowers around the house, (especially ones with a scent!) as it can really brighten up living spaces and one's mood. It's economical doing it this way as I'm sure if we all could afford it, we'd have flowers always and lots of them all over our homes :).
You don't have to use vases, they can be up-cycled jars too! Here are some images of the flowers broken up into smaller groupings. Don't forget to snip the stems on an angle before putting them into fresh water and make sure there are no flowers below the water line.
The next two I added more than one flower type. You're not limited to one flower type. The idea is to give the flowers some room to breathe. You can easily pluck out flowers that die quicker than when in a bigger arrangement that is tied together.
From one arrangement I was able to turn into five that I can place anywhere around my house and I love that! Anything to make each day a little brighter and happy is always a plus for me :).
And there you have it! A simple trick that will hopefully give you more enjoyment from your blooms. If you haven't seen yet via my Insta stories, I'm moving house, yay! Exciting times ahead! I'll keep you posted on the progress. We're doing some work on the house and so it'll be a bit before we move in but I'll share some before and after pics on here I think. Anyway, wishing you a fabulous week as always!
xo rose