Vase Living

The life span of flowers or foliage varies from stem to stem. We all know they don’t last forever, but after spending time lovingly creating an arrangement - we want more than a fleeting moment for our seasonal offering.

Flowers and foliage are an important reminder of the present. Taking the time to conditioning your stems is a great opportunity to check over what your stems need in terms of extra care. Perhaps a flower is looking a bit crushed from transit and needs some space, or maybe your foliage is a bit droopy and needs a good sear.

Vase Living is here to guide you through some measured gestures on how to maximise the life of your arrangement and breathe life back into weary stems.

The Vessel itself

Washing your vessel can often be the most over-looked step when getting your arrangement ready. Grabbing a vase from the back of a cupboard, never quite sure if you cleaned it before putting it away. Taking a few minutes to give it a soapy, warm wash can help so much in terms of bacterial growth. This will help the water’s purity and banish any old residue.

Blunt cuts

Similarly to your vessel, the snips or secateurs we use can also carry bacteria. A simple antibacterial clean can ensure that cross contamination of bacteria is never an issue.

On-going nurture

Refreshing your water every two days ensures your water never dries up. Some flowers and foliage are more thirsty than others, your water level can reduce at varying paces. By re-filling your vase, you ensure the water is always there and is always clean.

Remove the wilted

If a flower is starting to fade, removing it will prolong the life of the rest of the vase. Helping to control mould and bacteria. This also gives you a chance to re-imagine the arrangement if you so wish. Maybe change it to a smaller vessel or change it’s position in your space.

Positioning

The cooler the location of your arrangement the longer the stems will last. Florists place flowers in a cool, dark place before an event. Taking this on board, while flowers look beautiful in the sunlight, this will impact their overall vase life. Consider keeping them away from direct light or direct heat sources. However, if this is your ideal location - it’s just something to bare in mind.

Refresh with a trim

Stems form air-bubbles when cut to prevent the loss of water. These air-bubbles also makes it difficult for a stem to re-absorb water once placed into a vase. Trimming your stems by a few centimetres helps this enormously, and re-trim after a few days will help again.

The art of searing

Perhaps your stems need some extra assistance in removing the air-bubbles to awaken their thirst. Searing is simply placing your newly trimmed stem into boiling hot water - ideally avoiding steam, for around 30 seconds. Sometimes you can even see the air-bubbles escaping. Leave them to recover in fresh water for an hour or so and you will be amazed at the results.

A supportive wrap

While we always encourage the natural structure of a stem, if some are particularly droopy, wrapping them after a trim & a sear in paper to support the heads up for a few hours can often help the stem re-structure itself.

If you haven’t already, we suggest taking a look at Conditioning Vol. 1. This step-by-step guide goes into detail on how to treat each stem individually.

Image credit The Agony of Flowers - Théodore Roussel 1890.