Ephemeral art

Flowers are a luxury. There is no denying it. They are fleeting in their beauty. But boy, are they worth it!

Scientific studies show that having flowers in your house actually make you happier and healthier. They decrease anxiety, reduce stress and boost your mood. But we don’t need convincing, we already knew that.

Mixed buckets picked fresh, every evening

Some flowers will last longer than others once cut, but it really depends on a number of things happening in order to maximise their vaselife. Some flowers like sweet peas will last five days if looked after properly. Others, like alstromeria can last weeks in the vase. There are a few things we can do to help flowers live as long as possible in the vase.

The first thing is down to us, the cut flower grower. When we cut your flowers we do so in the coolest part of the day. We never pick when the sun is at the highest point because stems will already be stressed. We cut our flowers very early in the morning (7am!) or late into the evening (7pm). It means they have moisture in their stems already.

Secondly, we cut straight into clean, cool water. No preservatives, flower food or chemicals, as this will eventually end up back in the water system which we don’t want. We make sure our buckets are spotless so that no bacteria can enter the stems and that they are filled with tap water - good enough to drink ourselves. The buckets are then kept in the shade to keep them cool. We make sure we condition our flowers for at least 5-6 hours, but preferably overnight. This means that they have the opportunity to take up a big drink of that clean, fresh water before they arrive with you.

When you pick up your flowers, whether in buckets for arranging yourself or in a gorgeous bouquet, it is important that you recut the stems to open up more drinking cells. It’s best to do this with the sharpest scissors you have to avoid crushing the stems, cutting at a 45 degree angle, which will allow the maxmium surface area for water intake.

Once you’ve arranged your stunning flowers in a vase or container, this should be placed in a shady area of your house, not in full sun. This is because the sun will heat up the water and the flowers and any bacteria in the water will start to multiply quicker.

Every few days it’s a great idea to empty the water, clean the vase and refill with clean, fresh water. Whilst you’re doing this you can recut the stems an inch further up, to open up fresh drinking cells.

The last thing to do is to remove the stems which are past their best, as time goes by. You can snip off individual flowers which have gone over, and pull out stems which no longer look happy. The arrangement will become smaller, but those flowers which are left will have a better chance of living longer.

Doing all of this means you get to enjoy your flowers for longer. That said there is something beautiful about flowers drying slowly, losing their petals as they start to turn into what will become next year’s compost. It reminds us that nothing in permenant and that next week is a new week and fresh flowers await again!

We have customers who follow these instructions and say that they get over two weeks out of their Devon grown, chemical free flowers. They are very happy, and so are we!

Bouquets to go