By Alice

5 TIPS

FOR SELECTING THE FRESHEST FLOWERS AND WHAT TO LOOK FOR

With so many of us spending more time than ever at home now is the perfect time to be treating yourself to flowers that you can admire all day. I thought I would give you a few tips on what to look for when buying fresh flowers for your kitchen bench or your desk if you're working from home. Now before I go into this I must clarify that as a wedding/event florist I prefer the flowers on the wedding/event day to be nice and open so they look full and lush, with that said they won’t last many (if any) days after the wedding or event, so if any of my brides or clients are reading this the below isn’t relevant for a wedding or event.

Below are my 5 tips for selecting the freshest flowers:

  1. check the bottom of the stems–the ends of the stems should be fresh and green, if the stems are browning then this is a sign that they had been cut a while ago, however in saying this sometimes old flowers may have been recut, so also check for the following…;
  2. look for fresh green leaves on the stems- avoid flowers that have limp and floppy leaves, old flowers may also have yellow leaves so steer clear of those;
  3. closed buds– look for flowers with a closed bud, for example if you’re a fan of peonies then select a bunch with closed flowers, unless of course you’re wanting them open for a special event and don’t have time to get them to open;
  4. ensure the stems are strong– old flowers tend to have soft, slimy or floppy stems as they don’t have the ability to drink water because the stems haven’t been recut, so pop that bunch back if they are looking a little limp!
  5. clean fresh petals– flowers often have slight blemishes (don’t we all?!), however old flowers will have lifeless and slightly browning petals and they will have started to shrivel.

So now you know what to look for next time your buying yourself or someone else a bunch of flowers, if you haven’t already read my journal entry of “Caring for your blooms” then check it out to make sure you get more bang for your buck with your blooms!

Until next time my flower friends… x