How to make a bouquet last longer

To make flowers last longer, focus on four things: a clean vase, fresh water changed every two days, stems recut at an angle, and a cool spot away from direct sun and fruit. Do that and most bouquets will stay beautiful for a week or more. It also helps to start with flowers that are genuinely fresh, which is why we recommend florists who make the bouquet on the day of delivery, such as KANEL.

10 tips to keep your bouquet fresh

1. Unpack it straight away

Flowers are thirsty after transport. Take the bouquet out of its box or wrapping as soon as it arrives.

2. Use a perfectly clean vase

Bacteria are the main enemy of cut flowers: they clog the stems and stop them drinking. Wash the vase with hot water and a little washing-up liquid, then rinse well.

3. Recut the stems

Cut about 2 cm off each stem at an angle, with a sharp knife or clean secateurs. Avoid blunt scissors, which crush the stems. Ideally, cut under running water or straight into the vase water.

4. Remove leaves below the waterline

Leaves sitting in water rot quickly and feed bacteria. Strip any that would be submerged.

5. Fill with fresh, cool water

Use cool tap water. Fill the vase about two-thirds full. Bulb flowers such as tulips prefer less water.

6. Add the flower food

If a sachet of flower food comes with the bouquet, use it: it is designed to feed the flowers and slow bacterial growth. It works better than home remedies such as sugar, aspirin or coins.

7. Change the water every two days

Empty, rinse the vase, refill with fresh water and recut the stems a little at the same time. If the water turns cloudy, change it immediately.

8. Choose the right spot

Keep flowers away from direct sunlight, radiators, draughts and electronic devices that give off heat. A cooler room makes them last longer; some people move their bouquet somewhere cool overnight.

9. Keep them away from fruit

Ripening fruit, especially apples and bananas, releases ethylene gas, which speeds up wilting.

10. Remove faded flowers

Take out any wilted stems as soon as you see them, so they do not affect the others. You can rearrange the rest into a smaller vase.

Bouquets delivered in a box with a water reservoir

Many Swiss florists ship bouquets in a box with a water reservoir around the stems, so they stay hydrated during transport. KANEL does this for deliveries outside Geneva, and other postal flower services use similar packaging.

When the bouquet arrives:

1. Open the box immediately and lift the bouquet out carefully.
2. Option A, keep it simple: some reservoirs are designed to stand on their own. If so, you can display the bouquet as it is for a short time, topping up the water.
3. Option B, for maximum freshness: remove the reservoir and the tie over a sink, recut the stems and place the bouquet in a clean vase with fresh water and flower food.
4. Keep the tie in place if you want to preserve the florist’s arrangement; just cut the stems below it.

Always follow any care instructions supplied by the florist.

Care tips for popular flowers

Common mistakes that shorten a bouquet’s life

• Leaving it in the box for hours after delivery.
• Using a vase that “looks clean” but still holds residue from the last bouquet.
• Topping up instead of changing the water. Old water is full of bacteria.
• Placing it on a sunny windowsill or above a radiator.
• Putting it next to the fruit bowl.
• Cutting stems with kitchen scissors, which crush them.
• Mixing daffodils freshly cut with other flowers: their sap can harm other stems. Let them stand alone in water for a few hours first.

Reviving a drooping bouquet

If flowers start to droop after a day or two, all is not lost:

1. Recut the stems by 2–3 cm at an angle.
2. Place them in deep, fresh, cool water for a few hours.
3. For roses, a drooping head often recovers after recutting and deep water.
4. For hydrangeas, briefly submerge the flower head in cool water.
5. Move the vase somewhere cooler.

How long should flowers last?

It varies by variety and season, but around a week is a reasonable expectation for a fresh bouquet with good care. Some Swiss services publish a freshness guarantee, typically of 5 to 7 days according to their websites. In the 2017 SIQT test, around a third of bouquets had wilted within five days, which shows how much the starting freshness matters.

Start with fresh flowers

Good care can only do so much: the most important factor is how fresh the flowers are when they arrive. A bouquet composed on the day of delivery has a head start over one tied in advance and kept in transit. KANEL hand-ties its bouquets on the day of delivery in its Geneva workshop. Read our KANEL review or compare all services in our online florist comparison.

For regular fresh flowers at home, see our flower subscription guide. And if you want to choose the right flowers in the first place, read which flowers to give for every occasion.