Start with a properly clean vase
This is probably the most important bit and the one people skip most often.
Before you put fresh flowers into a vase, give it a really good wash. Old flower water leaves bacteria behind, even when the vase looks clean, and that can shorten the life of a fresh bunch very quickly.
If the vase has been sitting in a cupboard for months, wash it again anyway.
It takes two minutes and it genuinely makes a difference.
If the water starts looking cloudy, don't wait until the next day. Change it straight away.
Give the stems a fresh cut
Before your flowers go into water, take a little bit off the bottom of the stems.
You don’t need to go mad. Around 1–2cm is plenty.
Use a clean, sharp pair of scissors or secateurs rather than crushing the stems with something blunt.
For most flowers, we cut the stems at a slight angle. It gives them a nice fresh surface to drink from and stops the bottom of the stem sitting completely flat against the vase.
A clean cut is what matters. Avoid crushing, tearing or snapping the stems.
A few more things that make a difference
None of these are complicated, but together they can make a noticeable difference to how long your flowers stay looking good.
Use the flower food
If your flowers come with flower food, use it.
It isn't just sugar. Proper flower food is designed to help the flowers take up water and keep the vase water in better condition.
Follow the instructions on the sachet rather than chucking several packets in thinking more must be better.
It usually isn't.
Keep flowers away from heat
Heat is one of the quickest ways to shorten the life of cut flowers.
Try not to put your bouquet directly above a radiator, next to a fire, on a hot sunny windowsill or anywhere that gets very warm during the day.
A bright room is absolutely fine. You just don't want the flowers baking.
It's also worth keeping flowers away from bowls of ripening fruit, which can make some flowers age more quickly.
Change the water properly
Topping the vase up is important, but don't keep topping up the same water indefinitely.
Every couple of days, empty the vase, give it a rinse and refill it with clean water.
Take another small amount off the bottom of the stems before putting the flowers back.
And if the water looks cloudy before then, change it straight away.
A few tips for particular flowers
Different flowers behave in different ways once they're cut. These are a few of the things we're asked about most often.
Roses
Keep the vase topped up and make sure the water stays clean.
If your roses have slightly tougher or less perfect-looking petals around the outside, don't panic. These are often guard petals, which protect the rose while it is being handled.
You can gently remove them if you don't like the look of them.
Hydrangeas
Hydrangeas drink enormous amounts of water.
If they start drooping, the first thing we would check is the water level.
Never let a vase containing hydrangeas run dry.
Tulips
Tulips have a mind of their own.
They continue growing after they have been cut and they naturally bend, twist and move towards the light.
So if your neat arrangement looks completely different a few days later, there probably isn't anything wrong with them.
That's just what tulips do.
We actually think they look better when they start moving around a bit.
Lilies
When lilies open, you can carefully remove the pollen-bearing stamens.
The main reason we do it is because lily pollen stains absolutely everything.
If pollen does land on clothing or fabric, don't rub it. That tends to push it further into the fibres.
Something not quite right?
If there's a problem with your flowers, or something doesn't look quite as you expected, let us know.
Give us a few details below and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.