FLOWERS FOR SPRING: HOW TO MAKE YOUR SEASONAL BUNCH LAST LONGER
It starts mid-winter, the influx of flowers and in some cases, like tulips, we see them all year round…my favourites of the spring time flowers, which hit every supermarket, florist stand, shop and stall are daffodils, tulips and hyacinths.
Those bright colours and, in the case of daffodils and hyacinths, that sweet intoxicating fragrance that draws you in promises warmer days ahead.
I like that daffodils from the supermarket come with no plastic packaging bar two small elastic bands to keep them tight, they are also usually displayed in a cardboard box - without even any water! Another bonus to supermarket flowers is that they’ll usually state where they were grown. Daffodils are big business in the UK - Cornwall harvests an estimated 80% of the daffodils that are sold as cut flowers globally along with producing 15,000 tonnes of bulbs. It requires 100% manual labour thereby creating a lot of jobs with more than 2,700 daffodil pickers needed during peak season.
The price of these flowers at the supermarket does have me raising an eyebrow - £1 for a bunch of daffodils and £3.50 for a bunch of tulips -seems a bit too good to be true. I took a little look on the internet to find out the ethics behind them. We know that supermarkets have the power to buy big - not even bulk - just enough so they get a good price which they can pass on to the customer.
This Guardian article from 2022 assessed the carbon footprint of imported cut flowers over British grown. The Lancaster University study cited within the article concluded that “the carbon footprint of imported flowers can be 10 times that of a homegrown bouquet, so it pays to ‘buy small and buy British’” when measuring the environmental impact of British, Dutch and Kenyan cut flowers. The blooms pictured are from Waitrose - the labels tell me that the daffodils are from the West Country and the code on the hyacinths and tulips with a quick Google took me to Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire.
On the other hand, it can be argued that for some blooms importing from elsewhere is better from an emissions perspective. Imported carnations grown in Colombia for example, where they are the most important flower crop as they naturally thrive under the country's climate (thus employing a huge number of people who then have access to healthcare and education as a result of their employment), might make more sense than growing them in Britain where they ultimately need electricity and pesticides to be produced en masse.
The article also quotes Friends of the Earth who say, “with cut flowers, the four issues associated are carbon footprint, pesticide use, land and water use, and unsustainable and unrecyclable materials used to display and package them.”
Ultimately, as with a lot of things, the best way is to grow your own (plant bulbs in the Autumn - I keep forgetting but will set a calendar reminder this year to do so) but realistically, this isn’t possible for most people. In which case, Fairtrade, local and pesticide-free are keywords to look for when shopping for cut flowers, if buying from a florist you can ask them to skip the wrapping and those plastic flower bags!
Whichever way, we want to be conscientious with the resources that we use and the products that we buy. So here are a few tips that I have picked up over the years to keep spring blooms beautiful for longer:
IN GENERAL:
Buy your flowers at the tight bud stage for maximum enjoyment unless you need the wow factor that same day
On bringing your blooms home, cut at least 1cm from the base (more if they will be in a lower vase). With roses and other woodier stems I do this at an angle to help with water uptake but for these softer, fleshier stems I just cut straight across which helps them stand taller
Remove any lower leaves that will be in the water, as the less leaves in the water mean there is less of a chance of your flowers getting dehydrated
Give your flowers room! A tightly packed bunch of flowers is stunning but I find them even more beautiful when they have space around them to admire their form. I often split even a small bunch of tulips amongst 2 vases. This also stops their leaves from getting bruised and rotting
Keep your flowers somewhere cool. As glorious as they look on a windowsill in direct sunlight, your flowers won’t last the week this way after a hot day. Watch out for any radiators too as their heat may suffocate any blooms above them. I like spring blooms to brighten a dark corner in a room or as a table centrepiece
Keep cut flowers fresh by changing the water and giving them another trim at the base every few days (change the water every day if possible but not something I do!) - I find I can get an extra week out of them this way especially if I follow my rule for tulips below
To delay your flowers blooming, ice the water! To speed them up make the water lukewarm
DAFFODILS
Daffodils - every part of this flower, esp the bulb, are poisonous and will give you a gut ache if eaten - so don’t eat them! (do be careful when handling bulbs as they do look like onions).
There is a rumour that the sap of daffodils can shorten the life span of other cut flowers - especially roses and freesias (while others argue that this isn’t the case for them). I love daffodils just as they are, so I don’t mix them with others so can’t say either way!
TULIPS
Don’t overdo the water!! This is a tip that I have been using for decades - I only add about an inch of water at a time and then replenish when necessary (avoid them drying up but even if they do see the next tip!) which keeps my blooms from reaching peak too early compared to keeping them in lots of water. If you look this up on the internet you’ll likely find people extolling the virtues of giving tulips plenty of water which perks up their stems and helps them to stand upright - especially if they have wilted on their way to your home. But on closer inspection, minimal water is key to prevent the tulips blooming and becoming spent too quickly.
Don’t give up on wilted tulips as sad as they may seem! Watch this video on my Instagram to see what a good trim and fresh water can do over a couple of hours!
For drooping tulips and hyacinths a trick that I’ve spotted doing the rounds on social media recently is to insert a pin into the stem about 1 inch (2.5 cm) below the bloom. I’ve read that this trick releases some of the sap in the stem which can block water uptake, helping the flower siphon water through the stem, causing it to perk back up. I’ve also read that it releases any trapped air bubbles that are blocking the water from reaching the flower head which may be causing the droop.
Another ‘old wives’ tale doing the rounds is to pop a penny or 2 pence piece - minted before 1992 for the copper content - into your vase. Some florists swear by it. It’s the antimicrobial metal that is said to help keep the water fresh and therefore keep the stems upright. I have never tried this trick though I do know about the power of copper thanks to the Tongue Tingler and Kansa Wand.
Adding sugar to the water is another tip, as is bleach and hairspray but I don’t fancy any of those… Or just cut those stems short to stop the weight of the flower head pulling them down - how short will depend on the vase which can help support them. Too short in the vase though is not a good look!
HYACINTHS
Hyacinths need a lot of water so you find cut hyacinths in buckets at florists or supermarkets. If any air gets into their stems this can prevent water uptake (see pin prick trick above!) so be prompt with transporting them to a vase of water when you get home.
Hyacinths tend to be very leggy. I usually buy mine as potted up bulbs and either place the pot into a medium-height conical vase that supports the stems, or once they are beginning to bloom and flop I cut them and place them straight into an appropriate vase.
Hyacinths need about 5 hours of light each day in order for the stems to grow strong. In weak light, the stems will be thin and the blooms will easily snap the stalk.