How To Make Your Mothering Sunday Flowers Last Longer

Fingers crossed you’ll receive a beautiful bouquet of flowers over the weekend. If you are lucky enough to receive your favourite blooms for Mothering Sunday, here are our top 10 tips for making sure they stay at their best for as long as possible.

First, rinse out your favourite vase and fill it with fresh tap water

Add any flower food provided, and remember to always follow the sachet instructions

Give them a trim – cut roughly 1cm off the end of each flower stem at a 45 degree angle

Remove any leaves that you think will fall below the water

Arrange your flowers in the vase straight away, to prevent air bubbles from getting into the stem

Display your flowers in a cool location, ideally out of any direct spring sunlight 

Change the water as soon as possible if it goes cloudy – this is a sign of bacteria

Refresh your bouquet every three or four days – re-trim the stems and pop the bouquet in fresh water

Keep the flowers away from (ethylene-emitting) fruit bowls, especially if they contain strawberries and bananas

Resist the temptation to ‘bash’ the flower stems before putting them into the vase – some people believe that this increases the water intake of the flower, but it actually helps bacteria grow.