Did you receive a sympathy flower arrangement? You may be concerned about its longevity during the mourning period. Fortunately, you can help keep your sympathy flowers longer by adding a packet of flower food accompanying the flowers. Don’t have flower food or preservative? Try a simple homemade solution with a little sugar and lemon juice instead.

Sugar
Sugar is often added to the water of cut flowers because it provides energy to the entire flower, allowing it to last longer. Leaves are usually what absorb energy from the sun to create sucrose in a process known as photosynthesis, which is then used by the entire plant to survive. However, cut flowers often have many of their leaves removed (particularly all that sit below the waterline), which is why adding sugar to their water can help. One tablespoon of sugar should be enough.

However, don’t add sugar when watering a potted plant. A plant with its roots and stem intact cannot absorb sugar, unlike cut flowers which have their stem cut open. Avoid adding sugar to the water of cut lilies, as well. Research has shown that this may accelerate yellowing of the leaves.

Lemon Juice
A splash of lemon juice added to the drinking water of your sympathy flower arrangement serves to facilitate water absorption, allowing the cut flowers to obtain sustenance more easily.

If you don’t have lemon juice, whether fresh or not, you can also use some vinegar.

We just received a delivery at our home of funeral flowers for a family member who just passed away. The bouquet has a bunch of little packages of powdery stuff. Is it necessary to put this in the water for the flowers? It seems like extra work.

Whenever you buy a flower arrangement from 416-Florist.com for any occasion, you’ll notice that we include one or more small packets of a fine granular substance. Labelled as flower food, these do more than just provide sustenance for your fresh blooms – they also preserve their longevity so that you can enjoy their beauty longer.

Flower food does 3 important things:
1. Provides sugars for the flowers to feed on.
2. Those same sugars provide bacteria to feed on. This protects the stems since the bacteria have something else to eat rather than the stems.
3. Helps the stems absorb water more easily.

All flower food have a unique formula that combines sugar, chlorine and alum to create a fresh cut flower preservative. Other ingredients vary depending on the type of flower the food is designed for.

The funeral flower arrangement you’ve received was sent to commemorate the life of your loved one. Maintain its beauty by simply dissolving the flower food in the amount of water recommended (as stated on the back of the package) before placing your flower arrangement in the vase. It is worth the trouble.

Sometimes when you purchase flower bouquets, you don’t use them right away. You may have bought them to give away the next day, or have planned to use them much later in the day to decorate your home.  Whatever the reason, cut flower bouquets (not in vases or wet foam/sponge) that aren’t used as soon as you get them home should not be left bound together tightly, in cellophane wrapping. This is the way your Toronto florist packages the flowers so that they may be conveniently transported home, arranged in a visibly appealing manner that allows you to simply place them in a vase without much fuss. It is not the way you should store the flowers, since keeping them tied up in cellophane is one of the fastest ways to make your flower bouquet wilt.

1. As soon as you bring the bouquet home, unwrap the packaging it’s in and take off any ribbon, elastic band, or anything else that’s holding the flowers and greenery together. Just doing this frees the blooms, allowing them to get enough air.

If you plan on giving the flower bouquet to someone, remember to keep all of the packaging so that you can rewrap the flowers to present to your recipient. It’s a good idea to take a photo of the bouquet in its original condition so that you can arrange it again in the same manner at a later time.

2. Cut each flower stem and green garnish on an angle so that a larger surface area is exposed to water.

3. Trim leaves and foliage on the lower part of the stems.

4. Mix the flower food with fresh water in a clean vase or container, and place the flowers in it.

Now, the cut flowers have plenty of fresh water and air to survive longer, patiently waiting for you to use them!