5 Simple Steps to Make Your

Fresh Peonies Last Longer

Fresh Peonies are perfect for a summer wedding or event (or just for a weekday home refresher). But did you know that caring for fresh peonies is different than caring for different cut flowers? Though a fresh peony can last up to ten days, it's important to keep in mind the following five tips on caring for fresh peonies so that they can look beautiful and last longer.

So, you just got home and have your peony bunch in one hand and an empty vase in the other.

Here are 5 easy tips on taking care of your fresh peonies.

1. First and foremost, always clean up your blooms. This usually looks like taking them out of their cellophane carrier and laying them out on your floral station (AKA the kitchen counter). Then, potentially rinsing off any sap or dirt from the blooms, removing the leaves off the stems, and carefully taking off any guard petals.

2. Fill your vase with lukewarm water. If you use hot water, you'll risk destroying the stem tissue of your flowers, which causes bacterial growth (the Bouquet Killer™). Even worse, heat typically causes flowers to shed their petals more quickly! However, you could use warmer water to your advantage. Need certain blooms to open faster? Try warmer water instead of lukewarm...just not hot!

    

3. Here's a fun fact you probably didn't know: flower food does NOT help flowers grow! Makes sense but weird that it's been marketed that way, right? Flower food helps create clean water that will be free of bacteria, which in turn helps the flowers last longer and bloom in a more natural, wholesome way. Allowing bacteria to grow in your bouquet will kill it quickly, so giving the bouquet flower food and fresh water every few days will help it thrive for weeks.

    

   Bonus tip!

    

   If you don't have the time to go grab flower food for your arrangement, use a drop of bleach to replace it. This will keep your vase and water clean and help your bouquet last. Truly just a drop is all that's needed!

    

4. Now it's time to design (everyone's favorite part). It's a top florist secret to always give your flowers a fresh cut. What's this mean exactly? It means to give each flower stem a fresh cut before inserting it into your vase- so you're setting up your stem for the best absorption possible. Need to rearrange something and have to take out a stem or two? No worries; simply figure out its new placement, give it another small and quick cut, and put it in its new place. 

    

5. Like most fresh flowers, stashing them in the fridge or outside at night is a guaranteed way to help them last longer. But you can take the trick a step further with peonies. Try cutting fresh peony buds while they're soft, wrapping them in newspaper, and storing them in the refrigerator until you're ready to use them. They won't open up in the fridge, but you can preserve them for an extra day or two if you need them to last.

Always Keep Blooming,

Amy