MY FOUR TOP CUT-FLOWER TIPS:<\/p>\n
ONE –\u00a0Measure your blooms and cut them one and a half to two times the height of your vase.\u00a0\u00a0TWO –\u00a0Clear off all of the lower leaves on the flower and foliage\u00a0stems\u00a0that will fall below the neck of the vase (this will enable you to fit in more stems and make the arrangement look clean and professional as well as keeping material that will deteriorate out of the water in your vase).\u00a0THREE\u00a0– Cut stems\u00a0at a 45 degree\u00a0angle with a sharp<\/strong> knife or flower scissors.\u00a0FOUR – Refresh the water in your vase or container every other day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Some say “Don\u2019t use scissors!”\u00a0I wouldn’t hold this as a hard and fast rule, but try to ensure that you DO\u00a0use sharp\u00a0scissors<\/em> and make as clean a cut as possible.\u00a0\u00a0A blunt cutting pair of scissors actually crushes the cells, pinching the bottom of the stem so that they can\u2019t take up as much water.\u00a0Use a sharp blade\u00a0to cut your\u00a0flowers and they\u2019ll live double the time.<\/p>\n Slicing the stem at\u00a0least a 45 degree\u00a0angle means that more of\u00a0the flesh\u00a0on the inside of the stem is exposed. This is what helps wick the water up the stem and into all of those\u00a0 blooms. \u00a0Exposing as much of the interior pith to the water as you can helps it \u2018drink\u2019 more and keep better in your arrangement.<\/p>\n Use those sachets of flower food that come on the bunch of cellophane wrapped flowers from the supermarket.\u00a0 Other tips you can\u00a0try are to: add a drop or two of bleach to your water; put a copper coin in the bottom of your\u00a0vase (copper acts as a natural fungicide)\u00a0or if you don’t have flower food a spoonful of\u00a0sugar as flower food.<\/p>\n After a few days, if you see them start to look a little\u00a0droopy give them fresh water and a fresh angled cut. \u00a0If I have a vase of shop bought flowers on my table I go from a tall vase to a lower and lower one as the stems get shorter throughout the weeks.<\/p>\n There are lots of ‘Basic Flower Hacks’ that you can try which are outlined on pages such as this:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.countryliving.com\/gardening\/garden-ideas\/how-to\/a5791\/flower-hacks<\/a>\/<\/p>\n If you’d like to try and recreate this type of arrangement yourself have a look at the page link below for some tips and principles to follow. http:\/\/www.ehow.com\/how_12339720_10-secrets-arrange-flowers-like-pro.html<\/a><\/p>\n![\"20150607_173313\"](\"https:\/\/justbloomingfloralart.philandmel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/20150607_173313.jpg\")
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