Make it last
We want your arrangement to last as long as possible, and with just a little love, it absolutely can!
Flower Care 101
1. Top off the water daily
Flowers get thirsty! Make sure your vase stays at least ¾ full with clean, cool water. Top it off daily to keep stems hydrated and happy.
2. Keep them out of direct sunlight and heat
To extend the life of your blooms, place your arrangement in a cool spot away from direct sunlight, heating vents, or appliances that give off warmth.
3. Re-trim the stems every couple of days
Every two to three days, take your arrangement to the sink, carefully remove the flowers, and trim the stems at an angle. This helps them drink more efficiently when you place them back in fresh water.
4. Change the water every 2–3 days
Swap out the water completely every few days, especially if it starts to look cloudy. Clean water = longer-lasting flowers.
5. Use your flower food
We include a packet of floral preservative with every arrangement—add it to the water when you first get home, or when doing your first full water change.
6. Remove wilting blooms or leaves
As flowers age, remove any petals or leaves that start to wilt or fall below the water line. This keeps bacteria at bay and your arrangement looking fresh.
Want this on your fridge instead? Get the printable care card →
Wondering about wedding flowers?
Same principles, much higher stakes. Our co-founder Savannah wrote a guide on how long wedding flowers actually last, and how to keep a bouquet looking good from getting-ready photos through the last dance.
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Know Your Blooms
Not every flower behaves the same way in a vase. Some drink like they've been walking through a desert; some keep opening for a week; a few are done in three days no matter what you do. Here's what we tend to put on the table around here, and what to expect from each.
Spring Flowers
Tulips keep growing after they're cut, and they bend toward the light, so give the vase a quarter turn each day and they'll stay upright. Ranunculus are worth the fuss but soften fast; expect five to seven good days. Anemones open in daylight and close up at night, which is a feature, not a problem. Peonies arrive as tight balls and open with warmth, so put them somewhere cool if you want to slow them down for a dinner party.
Summer Flowers
Zinnias last a solid week or more but they're filthy drinkers, so change the water more often than you think you need to. Lisianthus is the quiet overachiever: ten to fourteen days, and it keeps opening new buds the whole time. Celosia lasts so long it will more or less dry in place. Sunflowers and hydrangea are the thirsty ones. Check the water level daily, and if hydrangea wilts, submerge the whole head in cool water for an hour and it will often come back.
Fall Flowers
Dahlias are the reason people fall in love with fall flowers, and they're also the shortest-lived thing in the vase: four to six days, hollow stems, endlessly thirsty. Enjoy them hard. Chrysanthemums are the opposite, lasting two weeks minimum and unfairly maligned. Amaranth and ornamental grasses hold their shape as they dry, so let them.
Winter Flowers
This is greenhouse and import season for ranunculus, anemones, and tulips, alongside the things that grow here in the cold: evergreens, winterberry, cedar. Woody stems last for weeks and want a hard, angled cut.
The Divas
If your arrangement has dahlias, sweet peas, or hydrangea in it, those are the stems that will go first. Pull them when they're spent rather than tossing the whole thing. Everything around them likely has days left.
Curious about the ones you haven't heard of? Our sister studio, Mountain Mama Florals, wrote a blog on some of the lesser-known blooms worth asking your florist about.
Five to start with here.
