Keeping Fresh Cut Flowers In Your Home

Do you love the smell of flowers in your home?  We do! However, we find that keeping flowers alive for more than a day or two can be challenging. Apartment Therapy has put together some great tips on how to keep your flowers alive and smelling great longer.  This will save you from buying new arrangements every few days, which will also save you money!  Keep reading to learn more!


If you've been reading Apartment Therapy for a while, you know we're big advocates of keeping fresh flowers in your home. Here are a few more tips for making them last, whether they're freshly picked or a favorite flower that you buy all the time.

1. Put freshly picked flowers in water immediately and leave them for at least 5 hours before arranging them, a process calling conditioning.

2. If your flowers come from your garden and not from the florist, make your own preservative, like this one from One Good thing by Jillee.

3. Alternatively, add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to the water and stir. The vinegar will help prevent the growth of bacteria.

4. If you have a favorite flower you use often, look online for a flower-specific tips. For example, hydrangeas last longer if you gently smash the end of each stem and immerse them in ice water before arranging. Hollow-stemmed flowers like delphiniums do well if you turn the flowers upside down, fill the stems with water, and seal them with a wet cotton ball before arranging. Poppies, and other flowers that ooze sap, last longer if you first immerse the bottom 2 inches of their stems in boiling water for 10 seconds.

5. Have a gunky, narrow-necked vase that's hard to clean? Try this tip from Real Simple: fill it with crushed shells from hardboiled eggs, a drop of dishwashing soap, and warm water, and swirl. Rinse thoroughly with hot water, and the next arrangement you put in will last a bit longer.