Cut flowers are the classic mother’s day gift.  If you’re giving them or receiving them you’ll want to know how to make them look their best for the longest time possible.  Here’s how:

If you’ve just been given an arrangement and need to find a vase to put it in, consider the type of flower and what the stems look like before choosing your vessel.  Flowers with straight stems (like tulips and calla lilies) look amazing in clear glass vases but their more knobby counterparts, such as the stems of hydrangeas, roses and carnations, are better hidden behind an opaque vase.

In terms of vase shape, if you flowers are floppy like tulips, put them in a tapered vase, something that has a small neck.  If the flowers are stiff and don’t droop naturally, almost any shape vase will work.

To make blooms last longer, keep you arrangement out of the sunlight . . . the intense light will cause the flowers to wilt

Trim all the foliage that falls below the water line.  Leaves that sit in still water breed bacteria which will damage your flowers.  And them make sure you give each stem a snip before placing it water; cut stems seal up when they are removed from water.

Check the water in your vase each day, if it looks cloudy, remove the flowers, trim the stems and put them back in fresh water.

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