Fresh flowers are a luxury that many people wish to thoroughly enjoy and maintain. However, flowers require a bit more care and attention than your old cactus standing in the corner, which you completely forgot about. With the right information, they can be easy and worth the effort, to bring beauty and elegance to your home.

Since many people have started working from home after the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s time to give some serious thought about how you present not just yourself but also your home backdrop when doing virtual meetings.

"Fresh flowers, even from the grocery store, and a candle burning never hurt anybody," interior designer Nate Berkus told Insider.

So now that you have your flowers, let’s discuss how we can help to keep them fresh and alive in a vase for a decent amount of time.

Keep flowers fresh by cutting the stems properly

Right before you place those blooms into a vase, it is important to cut the stems. At a 45-degree angle, use garden shears, kitchen scissors or a sharp knife to remove 1-2 inches. Cutting them allows the flowers to absorb water at a faster rate which will reduce the chance of premature perishing as the result of dehydration.

Keep flowers alive longer by pruning extra leaves

Remove any leaves that fall below the water line.

This helps prevent bacterial growth. You should check your flowers every day to remove dead leaves and petals. When you see dead leaves, dormant stems, or brown parts of leaves, cut them away. It's fine to pluck dead leaves or stems with your hands when possible, just don't pull too hard or you may damage the healthy part of your plant.

For tougher stems or to remove brown leaf tips and edges, use a scissors or pruning shears.

Fresh cut flowers last longer when the water is changed regularly

Flowers should be kept in a clean vase with water at room temperature. The water should then be changed every few days. Remember to clean your vase and re-cut the stems after each change.

Trimming the stems again removes tissue at the tips that may be breaking down and once again exposes fresh tissue that absorbs more water.

Make fresh flowers last longer by putting them in the fridge

Since fresh cut flowers are said to thrive in cooler temperatures, putting them in the fridge is not such a bad idea. This will allow the flowers more time to soak up the water and maintain their freshness.

Keep flowers away from sunlight and fruits

Flowers in your vase should never be placed near windows where they can get a lot of sunlight. At the same time, although fruits can be used to help decorate and brighten up a white kitchen, you must be very mindful of where you place them. Keep your flowers away from the fruit bowl because ripening fruit emits a gas called ethylene which can cause cut flowers to age more rapidly, making them more susceptible to wilting and withering before their time.

The YouTube video below explains this more in depth:

Give your flowers some aspirin

Save yourself a headache of prematurely dead flowers by mixing one crushed aspirin into your vase of fresh flowers. Aspirin is said to lower the pH level of the water, allowing it to travel through the flower faster, which prevents wilting.

Add the flower food packet to your water

The flower food packet that you get from your florist or grocery store is quite useful. The packet contains powdered "flower food" that is meant to make your flowers last longer. Because flowers quickly age and droop after they've been cut, flower food provides nutrients to combat the rapid onset of wilting.

Add a few drops of vodka

Not everyone knows this trick, but giving your flowers a few drops of vodka in their water can do wonders for them.

Vodka inhibits ethylene production, a ripening gas that helps plants mature, and slows the wilting of the flowers.

Get fresher flowers with soda

Who would have thought that soda would be your flowers’ best friend? Some say adding a citrus-flavored soda, such as 7-Up or Sprite to the vase of water will lengthen the time your flowers remain beautiful. This is because slightly acidic water travels up the stems to the flowers more rapidly than neutral or basic water, keeping the flowers hydrated and fresh.

Add pennies to your floral arrangement

Drop a penny into your vase and make a wish! Copper is a fungicide, so adding a penny to the water in your vase helps protect your flowers from bacteria. It is also recommended that the penny be accompanied by an aspirin, which is acidic and helps water flow through your flowers.

So there we have it, some pretty nifty ways on how to keep your fresh flowers lasting much longer in your home. It appears that more and more people plan to use flowers as part of their home and office decor, as the fresh flower market is set to witness huge growth by 2027.
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