What could be more beautiful than a chic pink bouquet? And what could be sadder than watching the fact that after two days the flowers heaped up their beautiful heads on one side, and the petals fell with a quiet rustle to the floor? It’s especially disappointing if these are beautiful blue roses, which are not easy to buy, and they are very expensive.
Of course, you can reassure yourself with a tale that a bouquet presented from a pure heart would have stood longer. And you can properly prepare roses and then enjoy their long life in a vase. How to keep cut roses fresh?
Bouquet selection
If the rose is chosen by hand, the flower should be:
- Not fading. Fully opened flowers with dried petals are not suitable, as are immature buds, which do not have enough energy for ripening and opening.
- Not fading. Determine the degree of freshness of the rose flower will help the leaves framing the bud. If they tightly clasp it - the flower has been cut recently, if bent down - the rose has been around for several days.
It will be ideal if the flowers are cut the day before in the early morning or in the evening, when the buds are in the best tone.
Attention must be paid to transportation. Flowers should be carefully packed so that cold air does not burn the petals, direct sunlight does not fall, and a draft is not blowing. It will be useful to wrap the ends of the stems with a damp cloth or paper.
If you plan to donate flowers immediately, you must ensure the proper storage of roses. Cut roses are best stored in special floristic refrigerators. The rose, together with the head, is wrapped tightly with paper and lowered into water so that the heads are located above the water. At a temperature of + 5º C the rose can be stored for 5 days.
Before you put a bouquet in a vase
In the cold season, the bouquet can not be unpacked immediately. Packed flowers should lie down in a cool place for a while. The desire to warm the roses faster will lead to their rapid withering.
How to keep cut roses sold in winter and early spring? They are grown in greenhouse conditions and are not adapted to the dry, warm air of residential premises. Flower shops often sell bouquets that are already dehydrated. They can be “watered” by updating the sections under a gentle stream of water and placing the stems 2/3 of the length in room temperature water. Buds should not touch water. After 3 hours, remove the roses, carefully remove the thorns and lower leaves.
When placed in a vase, excess vegetation under water should not be - only the stems.
Slices of flowers should be updated with a knife with a very sharp blade, so that water flows better to the flowers. You can crush the slices and scrape the skin at the ends.
It is advisable to wash the vase with a disinfectant. Water for the bouquet should be left at least 3 hours to remove harmful impurities. To maintain the flowers in good shape, you can add special fertilizer to the cut flowers in the water. It contains nutrients and an antiseptic. It can be partially replaced by a spoonful of sugar added to 1 liter of water, several crystals of boric acid and an aspirin tablet.
The vase is selected so that the stems can be immersed in water at 2/3 of the length.
To prevent putrefactive processes, a drop of bleach is added to the water, but this only applies to flowers grown massively for sale. Local garden roses will not like this.
Cut flower care
How to save cut roses now that the preparations are finished, the bouquet is placed in a vase and pleases the eye? It is necessary to perform simple actions:
- Water should be replaced regularly with fresh, settled water.
- Sections are also regularly washed with running water and renew.
- Rinse the vase periodically with detergent.
- Regular spraying will extend the life of roses. But water should not get inside the buds.
- The proximity of a pink bouquet with vegetables and fruits is not allowed. Ethanol produced by the fruit causes premature flower wilt. The rose does not like other flowers either.
- You can not put roses on any heating appliances.
In addition, roses do not tolerate tobacco smoke, direct sunlight, drafts. If possible, roses should be moved to a cool place at night. If not, wrap the bouquet with paper and put in a bucket of water.
Operation resuscitation. Save the withered bouquet
Nothing lasts forever; the flowers gradually begin to fade and wither. How to help roses in this situation? How to keep cut roses a few more days? There are emergency measures that briefly restore roses to their former splendor. Florist Tips:
- Refresh edges by cutting stems obliquely. Wrap the heads of roses and leaves with wet paper. If the wilting is slight - immerse the stems for several minutes in water with a temperature of + 40º C. The vessels will open, the flowers will be saturated with moisture and revive.
- If the flowers fade thoroughly, the slices will have to be immersed 3 cm in steep boiling water, kept for half a minute. Then move them into the settled cool water.
- Another method: scrape the skin 5 cm above the slices and scorch the slices and the bottom of the stem over the fire. The flower heads will rise again.
People’s advice: add a spoonful of ammonia to a vase with flowers.
A bouquet of roses, if taken care of, can give joy a very, very long time.