Make your fresh cut flowers last longer & look more beautiful
Ingrid Ingebretsen 
Living things love clean water and for flowers, this rule is no exception. If you feed your flowers with chlorinated water, they will absorb the chlorine and deteriorate rapidly. It’s imperative that you use some sort of water filtration system to treat your water before using it on your flowers. Water softeners and reverse osmosis systems are not suitable for this purpose. Water softeners add significant amounts of salt to the water and reverse osmosis systems produce acidic water, both reducing the life of your flowers. In order to avoid damaging your flowers, use the cleanest water available.
Hank Maarse is the owner of Jacob Maarse, a premier flower shop located in Pasadena, CA. Hank certainly knows his flowers and therefore also knows the best water to use to prolong their lives. He has found that “cut flowers keep their vibrant color better and last three to four days longer when kept fresh in LifeSource water.” The Pasadena Rose Parade also says that “LifeSource water was chosen because it’s clean for drinking and beneficial for flowering plants.” LifeSource water systems remove chlorine from water without adding other harmful substances to keep your flowers healthy and beautiful.
After giving your flowers clean, chlorine-free water, you need to regularly cut the stems and change the water to help them maintain their vibrancy. Cut the stems about an inch every day to keep them healthy. Use a proper cutting tool such as gardening shears to avoid crushing their vascular systems by using dull kitchen scissors. It’s best to cut the flowers underwater at an angle to give the stems the most surface area to absorb the water. Cutting your flowers underwater is preferred because it prevents air bubbles from building up in the stems which cause the heads to droop. It is also recommended that you remove all of the leaves that are submerged underwater because they encourage bacterial growth
While many people mistakenly think that flowers should be submerged into warm water, cold water has been shown to better prolong their lives. Think about it this way, it’s a hot day and you have the choice of jumping into a lukewarm pool or a cool pool. Which sounds more refreshing to you? Flowers are the same way, the cold water revives the bloom which helps keep the flowers vibrant. You can either pour chilled water into the vase or just drop in an ice cube or two.
There are many items you have laying around the house which can also prolong your flowers’ lives. Adding 2 tablespoons of sugar nourishes the flowers and encourages them to bloom. Add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to slow down bacterial growth. Another way to discourage bacterial growth is drop a penny into the water. Copper is a fungicide which kills bacteria and fungi. If you follow these steps, you won’t even need to use the packet of “flower food” florists typically include with flowers.
If you put a little thought into where you display your flowers, you can extend their lives even more. As beautiful as it looks to perch a vase of flowers on the windowsill, it is better to keep them in a cool place out of direct sunlight. This prevents the blooms from wilting prematurely. Also avoid putting your flowers near bowls of fruit. Even though you can’t see it, the fruit gives off ethylene gas which damages the blooms.
While there are several techniques you can use to keep your flowers beautiful and vibrant, the most important factor in prolonging their lives is to keep them in clean, chlorine-free water. Keeping your fresh cut flowers in LifeSource water adds an additional 3 to 4 days to your flowers’ lives. By immersing your blooms in high quality water and following a few simple tips to keep them healthy, you will be able to enjoy your beautiful flowers for a long time.