6 Ways to Extend the Life of Your Beautiful Bouquet

Many people think of flowers as a beautiful but short-lived gift or way of decorating a space. And while it’s true that as soon as flowers are cut their lifespan is too, there are lots of ways to keep them around for longer. 

Preservation prolongs the pleasure

Surrounding ourselves with flowers has the potential to lessen agitation, anxiety and depression - why wouldn’t we want that magic to last as long as possible? A lot of people are put off buying flowers because of their impermanence, but it’s that same impermanence found everywhere in the natural world that makes beauty worth appreciating.

Positive experiences and their lasting effects, such as those we gain when receiving flowers, are key to happiness. But more important than the intensity of these moments are their frequency - lots of small reasons to feel happy will leave you feeling better than a life-changing experience once in a blue moon.

The way we feel when we see flowers is a great example of exactly this kind of happiness - those thinking of you flowers you send to a loved one just because might improve their whole week. In this blog we’ve included a mix of techniques for keeping your flowers fresh in their vase, and ideas for what to do with them once they start to pass their best.

Thank you flowers

You’ve stepped up to the plate for someone and they’ve sent flowers to show their thanks - these reminders of how much your friend appreciates you deserve to be kept in plain view for as long as possible. Did you know that adding a few drops of bleach to your vase water will keep your flowers fresher for longer by limiting the growth of bacteria? Each time you refresh the water in your vase, be sure to remember to add bleach as well, and you’ll be surprised by how much longer your flowers keep their brightness.

When they do eventually begin to fade, you could opt to dry them out to preserve them. The easiest way to do this is by stripping the stems of any foliage, tying your flowers into smaller bunches, and hanging them upside down somewhere cool and dark. It may take a few weeks for them to dry completely, but once all of the moisture has gone they should last for at least a year.

Birthday flowers

If you’re the type of person who likes to turn your birthday into a birthday week or even a birthday month, of course you’ll want any birthday flowers you receive to stick around for as long as possible. Similar to the bleach method, why not try adding a mixture of equal parts dissolved sugar and vinegar to your flowers’ water? The sugar feeds the flowers, while the vinegar prevents bacterial growth. For a standard quart vase try adding two tablespoons of each to the water, and see if you notice the difference in your flowers’ longevity. 

A good keepsake-making technique for birthday flowers is to press them. Using a heavy book and some untextured paper (parchment paper or blotting paper both work well), with a few weeks’ patience you can have beautifully pressed flowers. Before they start to develop dark spots, take the heads of your flowers and place them between your sheets of paper, before putting them inside your chosen book. An extra weight can be placed on top of the book to improve the process.

This is just one of several ways to press flowers at home. This method means you’re left with a book full of memories of magnificent birthday flowers past.

Graduation flowers

Graduation, be it from high school or college, is an achievement you want to remember forever. Nothing complements a mortarboard like a beautiful bouquet of graduation flowers. Keep them looking fresh throughout your graduation photoshoots by lightly spraying the blooms in a layer of hairspray before putting them in their vase.

Make sure you spray from enough of a distance so that the flowers are coated, but not dampened or flattened by the hairspray. Hairspray can also be helpful if you go on to dry your flowers, by adding a coat of hairspray periodically during the weeks they’re hung out to dry.

Alternatively, why not send your flowers away to be preserved in resin? Turn your bouquet into a piece of art that can commemorate your graduation forever - or even useable homeware and decor, such as coasters or a photo frame. They will need to be dried prior to being placed in resin, so expect the process to take some time - it will be worth it.

Give a moment of happiness

The next time you receive flowers, you’ll know how to make the joy they bring last for longer. If you’re looking to give someone else a moment of happiness, you can order flowers from French Florist by 2pm for same-day local delivery across Los Angeles.