Looking After

Cut the stems at an angle about 3cms from the end with sharp scissors. Cutting stems at an angle provides a larger area for water uptake, and stops the stem from sealing itself against the bottom of the vase. Strip off all the leaves below the water level. Place in deep water and stand in a cool, shady place for an hour or more. Keep your flowers in a cool location away from draughts, direct heat or sunlight. Top up regularly with water and flower food. Dying flowers produce ethylene gas which prematurely ages flowers, so remove them as soon as they fade. Fruit also produces this gas, so don't place your flowers near fruit.

If a rose starts to droop at the head, re-cut the stem, wrap the head in paper to support it upright and plunge 5cms of the stem into boiling water for about 30 seconds. Cut the stem again and place in deep cold water for two hours.

There are some things that you should take care NOT to do: Popular tricks include putting copper coins, aspirin, lemonade, or bleach in the water. These don't work, and can't feed your flowers adequately. To get the best from your cut flowers, just follow the tips above.

Likewise, don't smash or pierce the stems, or use blunt scissors to cut them. This damages the water vessels in the stems and restricts water uptake. It also enables bacteria to multiply more quickly and over a larger area.

Don't mix daffodils or narcissi with other flowers. These two flowers emit latex from their stems when cut (`daffodil slime') which shortens the life of other flowers. Keep daffodils in a separate vase, or you can use special flower food for flowers cut from bulbs which makes them safe to mix with other flowers. You can place the daffodils in a bucket of water and the bulb cut flower food for at least 12 hours on their own and then arrange them with other flowers. Don't cut the stem again.