Receiving a bouquet of flowers is such a lovely feeling. To know that someone is thinking of you and has taken the time to send a gift of beautiful blooms puts a smile on most people’s faces. But, a bouquet of flowers is a gift that does require a degree of effort from the recipient. And what you do with the bouquet when you receive it really does make a difference as to how long you will be able to enjoy it. Follow our step-by-step guide below to ensure your fleurs stay fresh for as long as possible:
Proper preparation prevents poor performance, or so the saying goes. And it’s true! First of all, you need to ready yourself with everything you will need - grab your scissors, clippers, and a few vase options (so you can see what will work best). And before we start - take note - the last thing you’re going to do is cut the stems!!
- Remove the bouquet from all the packaging. (Find out what to do with it by reading our recycling post here.) Find flower food and instructions.
- Remove bouquet from foam pack (this is only used for hydration during transportation, you don’t want to keep the flowers in this).
- Remove elastic - it’s on there to make sure all stems can fit in the foam pack. The bouquet will relax into its true form once the foam has been removed.
- Hold the bouquet up beside your vase options to size it up. Keep in mind, the shorter you go, the more chance the bouquet will shift and loosen, possibly causing it to come apart.
- Once you’ve decided on the vase - set the bouquet back down and prepare your container. Make sure it’s watertight, clean, and clear of any dust or gunk.
- Fill your vase up with warm water - this helps flowers rehydrate after being in the foam pack - dissolve flower food in the water. Fill the water up nice and high to make sure your flowers don’t drink it dry.
At this point, you’re nearly ready to cut the stems. Here we go!
- Hold up the bouquet again to confirm where you’re going to trim the stems, so that the bouquet fits the vase - you want the collar of the bouquet to rest on the rim of the vase and for stems to remain as long in length as possible. Rinse off any foam chunks on stems.
- Trim ALL the stems, even the shorter ones further up, if there are any. Try not to linger too long - use clean cuts on an angle - do not use scissors, this crushes the stems.
- Put your bouquet into the water as soon as possible. Stems will start to reseal after a few seconds when exposed to the air.
- Adjust your bouquet as needed. Remove the additional cards so the thoughtful message is front and center.
- Place your vase in desired space for maximum enjoyment. Just make sure it’s out of direct sun and away from any heat source, eg radiators, air vents.
To maintain maximum freshness and longevity, be sure to check on the water levels in the vase every other day and top up or refresh as needed. Give the stems a trim at the same time too and this will reopen the capillaries to help maximise water intake. Try to trim off expired blooms as needed and readjust and redesign as some flowers may wilt sooner than others. You can always put some stems into smaller bud vases if you don’t have enough space in your main vase.
Top tip - don’t cut the bouquet where it’s bound. The bind wire/tape/waxed string is what’s holding the design together. Once the bind is undone, the structure and design of the arrangement will be compromised.
Whilst many people enjoy the hands-on aspect of receiving a bouquet of flowers, it can take up a lot of time and effort and be inconvenient for some. If you’re the person doing the gifting, carefully consider the recipient, and any limitations they may have. For example, if your mother-in-law is recuperating from recent surgery, will she thank you for adding to her to-do list? Sometimes, it’s more appropriate to send flowers already arranged in a vase - this allows the recipient to enjoy the design right away and with no extra effort on their part. It also solves the problem of sending a large bouquet and worrying if the recipient will have a vase large enough! Remember, you can always bring in your own vase and we’ll design straight into that too! And, if you’re not sure what the best option would be, we’re here to help! Just give us a call on (416) 236 8273 or visit our website to place an order.