One of our regulars stopped by the store today and mentioned this BLOG. For those of you who have never done this sort of thing before, let me say, what a surprise to find out someone is actually reading this. Well, hopefully it is more than someONE. Hopefully it is lots of someONEs.All of my messages to date have avoided one topic in particular. FLOWERS. Interesting, since our primary business is flowers. When I started to think about this, I realized that the real reason is that it is difficult to reduce the beauty, delicacy and fragrance of a flower or an arrangement down to simple words. With that said, I realized I didn't have to. Instead I am going to share care and selection tips with you, so here is the first class in flowers 101. (And don't worry, I'll continue to add lots and lots about new products, events and generally random stuff!)
So, what are the top 5 most preferred flowers? Roses, Chrysanthemums, Tulips, Gerberas, and Lilies, in that order. Now, how do we take care of them, well first let me give you some science (watch out Alton Brown!)
Flowers drink water with a capillary action. Capillary action happens when water molecules are more attracted to the surface they travel on than to each other. In paper towels, the molecules move along tiny fibers. In plants, they move through narrow tubes that are actually called capillaries.
So imagine the stem of your flower as a bundle of straws. Water had rather stick to the walls of the straws than it had to itself, so it is sort of "sucked" up the inside surface of the straws.
So why do we tell you to change the water and cut off the bottom inch of the stems when you get fresh cut flowers ever few days? Well, because as the water in your vase ages, it grows bacteria and gets yucky. Now imagine these blobs of bacteria lodging in the bottom of the straws and clogging them like a half-blended strawberry in straw of your milkshake. Now the flower can't get water and of course, will soon die.
Ok, so now you know to cut the stems and change the water, what else can you do to prolong your vase life? Well, don't give them 7-up, or asprin. While these acidulate the water (make it more acid - good!) it unfortunately has other stuff in it that makes the water a better breeding ground for bacteria (BOO!). The best thing to use is the packet of flower food you got with your flowers. To give you an idea, this is a highly complex, very researched, and very expensive substance (kind of like cheesecake -- well maybe not, but that sounded good). It contains both flower food, and anti-bacterial for the water and can extend the vase life of your flowers by 4 or more days. Just be sure to follow the directions.
What else can you do? Well, consider placement of your flowers. Avoid placing them in warm spots, sunny spots, or drafty spots. Keep the vase full of water from the kitchen sink, and no, they do not prefer soft water. Why did I say FULL? Because sometimes the stems don't reach all the way to the bottom of the vase or container and although it still has some water, some of the flowers may be getting parched!
I bet you didn't know there was that much to know about watering your flowers. Don't worry, there is more, but I'm saving that for later. (Eat your heart out Alton!)
