Do you love the charm of a simple vase of cut flowers on your table?
Here are some tips we’ve used at our household, many taught to me by my mother and grandmother gleaned through years of doing.
This dreamy painting epitomizes how I feel about slipping outside for a moment with a knife and vase. Mothers need to do that, you know. The quiet, the warmth, the introspection, the gentle breeze, the birds who feel invaded~ it is a precious time to worship the Creator and all His many benefits.
There is an exuberance and homespun beauty in having flowers at the table or next to a stack of books being read that somehow makes it feel more like home.
“I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.” ~Emma Goldman
Simple Tips To Fabulous Cut Flowers
Rule 1: Cut your flowers in the cool of the day, morning or evening. Use a sharp knife and cut at an angle.
Rule 2: Remove any leaves on the stem that will be in water. Foliage covered with water will rot, cause discolored water, and stem blockage. Bacteria-blocked stems are unable to supply needed water to the living flower, and they will deteriorate more rapidly.
Rule 3: Take a container of lukewarm water (not much warmer than body temp – 95° to 110°F) along to the garden. Immediately after cutting, place the stems in the water.
Rule 4: Always use tepid water in your vases. Cold water has a higher oxygen content, which can cause air bubbles to form in the stems of your flowers, blocking their water uptake. Spring bulbs such as tulips and daffodils are the exception to this rule as they prefer to be placed in cold water.
For a very special event, when you return inside, you can place the container and flowers in a refrigerator set at 35° to 40°F for 3 to 12 hours. Cooling permits the plant to take up more water than it releases and helps hold flower freshness. These tips come from the Iowa State Fair Flower Exhibit publication.
Hydrangeas will occasionally droop quickly in the vase and dipping the stems in alum (or boiling water) can do wonders to revive them. Here is the secret of alum.
Natural Ways to Preserve Cut Flowers
1. White vinegar and sugar ~ Combine 1 tsp. of white granulated sugar with 2 TBSP. of white vinegar and one quart of water. Cut flowers love it.
2. Hydrogen peroxide ~ Some florists add a capful or two of hydrogen peroxide to the water to keep cut flowers looking fresher longer.
Placing an aspirin or penny in the water is not effective as a floral preservative according to the Iowa publication mentioned above.
Martha Stewart’s Flower-Arranging Secrets:
I don’t own a frog, but have used the tape idea in a short, wide bowl, and it worked beautifully.
After I got my little Nikon COOLPIX S8100 for this blog, I took so many images. Here are some of our favorite bouquets from past gardens that have been kept fresh by these preservation methods.
Favorite Bouquets
Apricot ‘Drift’ roses glow with morning sunlight in a vase that my mother found at a Portland Days steam engine festival and…
Elderberry berries, honeysuckle ‘Mandarin’, and hydrangea in an old chipped $8 Wedgwood pitcher~
Lily of the valley and white anemone ‘Snowdrift’ in yard sale (2/$3) pressed-glass cream pitcher and…
Mixed bouquet keeping George W. company. It consists of columbine, Japanese iris, ninebark shrub flower pods (red), zebra grass, poor man’s pepper, speedwell, roses, all quickly tucked into a 3″ antique pitcher found at a garage sale for a buck~
White roses with Russian sage and…
Jackmanii clematis, Veronica, and bugleweed in an old Milk of Magnesia bottle~
David Austin rose, ‘Wisley’ in an old Wilton Armetale pewter mug ($8 for a pair), and…
Tulips, daffodils, and grape hyacinth from this spring in front of a lovely shawl given to me by my dear friend, Anita~
Even if all you have in your yard are dandelions, they should be perfectly beautiful in light of the statement God made in the garden: that it was ‘very good’! Oh, the joy to receive them from a child!
Take time to smell the flowers today, then bring them inside!
“Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!” ~Psalm 90:17
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Toni
Love the glorious pops of colors in all the photos here! I agree, nothing says home better than flowers. I try to grow a succession of them so that we have some available for the table from early spring through autumn. My hydrangeas are just starting to bloom. Thanks to you, for the information in this post, I’ll be using alum to keep them fresh.
(Aside: I think George Washington would prefer being nearer to your flowers than the present day government. o.O)
Have a wonderful day!
Jacqueline
Haha!! I couldn’t agree more! George would (as some say) “roll over in his grave’ if he knew!!
Roxy
Hello, I think your flowers are just lovely, It is hard to keep flowers long out on the prairies but I have never given up. I was just going to go outside and get some pictures of them (these really last a long time).
May you enjoy His presence and His peace! Thanks for helping to keep Biblical Womanhood alive and thriving.
Blessings, Roxy
Jennifer
I’m so glad you wrote this post! It’s that season when I want to bring flowers in, but it’s frustrating to watch them wither so quickly. I’m excited to try a lot of these tips, especially the vinegar and alum.
Pamela
A feast for the eyes! My husband is a master gardener of roses and brought in three bouquets of peonies. It brings him so much joy to arrange them and bring them to me that I’ve given up cutting any at all. Feeds his artistic passion. When flowers are scarce he uses a collection of tiny vases to fix me a bouquet for by my chair. So I smile over the beauty of the flowers and again over the beauty of his love.
Jacqueline
Oh, my heart! Wow, not all women have such a man who appreciates true beauty. No one can tell me that a man cannot be part steel and part velvet! Thanks for sharing it here, Pamela 🙂
Nicole
Those are pretty flowers. We had real pansies planted in containers for our wedding and now they sit on our porch rail. We are blessed to rent a house which has several kinds of flowers and bushes. I like to cut them and bring them in the house and am happy my husband likes them too.
Anna @ Feminine Adventures
What a lovely post! I tend to be very practical and didn’t want to plant flowers but a friend urged me too. Now I just love looking out on the vegetable garden that’s splashed with yellow and pink flowers. You are so right, going out to cut flowers is a wonderful time to worship our Creator.
Jacqueline
Anna,
My mother told me when I was a tot that it was her favorite time alone with God! She could look back a the house with all the hustle and bustle and gain a positive, joyful perspective on her life in that few minutes a day… 🙂 Many rich blessings to you, dearie!
Nabila Grace
What wonderful information! I love flowers. They are my serenity. 🙂 When I can’t make things right in my mind I step into my garden and just watch and ponder. And now you have shared how to keep my sweet flowers longer inside! This is perfect! 🙂
Janet foreman
Copper definitely DOES keep the water from getting smelly, although one penny may not be sufficient. I discovered that when I was using an antique copper pitcher as a vase and noticed that the water never smelled no matter how old the bouquet. You can use a small piece of copper wire it you have that around the house.
Jacqueline
Thank you for that insight, Janet 🙂 I like the wire idea as I have some 🙂
Blessings!
Leah
Beautiful post!