I admit, I do not like to cut garden roses for bouquets. They seem to me much more beautiful in the bushes, warmed by the sun, covered with drops of rain or dew. But summer passes, colds come, and in our house, for some family holiday, guests bring roses. Of course, I want them to stand longer!
Tricks of keeping a rose bouquet
When flowers are brought to us for birthdays, I personally make sure that each bouquet has its own vase. Not only that: I check what exactly is included in the composition. It turns out that roses often "conflict" with representatives of other species, and with their own kind. Here are the unwanted neighbors they languish around:
- orchids;
- mignonette;
- hyacinths;
- daffodils;
- asters;
- sweet pea;
- carnations.
Moreover, tea roses fade faster next to scarlet ones, and white ones will be damaged by the neighborhood with burgundy ones.
Fruits such as apples and bananas are also detrimental.
All eyes on the stems
It is known that flowers are drunk not only by roots. Therefore, when the guests leave, I fill the bath with lukewarm water and give the roses the opportunity to swim, get drunk through the stems and leaves, and through the petals. Then I arm myself with a secateurs or a knife with a thin sharp blade, wipe the cutting edges with hydrogen peroxide, and for each flower I slightly shorten the stem, cutting it obliquely, at 45 degrees. You can also split such a cut along, so the rose will better absorb water in the future.
Important. If pruning is done by removing the flower from the water, the air will quickly fill the stomata on the cut, with which the rose drinks, and clog them. It is better to carry out manipulations directly in the water.
Knowing the size of the vase, I cut off the leaves from the stem as well - the part that would otherwise end up in the water and sooner or later begin to rot.
Attention to water and vessel
Roses look most elegant in crystal and porcelain. But they will last the longest in a ceramic vase. Porous ceramics perfectly thermally insulate the bouquet, protecting it from possible temperature changes if the vase is suddenly moved from a brightly lit place to a cool one and vice versa.
It is best to use structured water: melt, rain. Suitable boiled, distilled, in extreme cases settled. Cool in summer, warm in winter. And you need to pour it enough to cover at least 2/3 of the length of the stems.
I change the water daily, rinsing the vase so that a bacterial film does not form on the walls.
To make roses last longer
You can, of course, get by with frequent changes of water; but additional nutrition will greatly increase the life span of the rose in the bouquet. Here are some types of additives (per liter of water):
- granulated sugar, 1 tbsp. a spoon;
- table vinegar, 2 tsp. spoons;
- ammonia, 2 drops;
- vodka, 1 tbsp. a spoon;
- activated charcoal, 3 tablets;
- aspirin, 1 tablet.
You can also use professional preservatives from flower shops.
If they still wither
There are several useful procedures.
- A very hot (up to 90 degrees) bath for the stems helps well. For the duration of the five-minute dive, I wrap the leaves and buds in clingfilm. After cutting the ends of the stems again, I put them in cold water. It's like shock therapy.
- After holding the roses for 3 hours immersed in cool water, I cut off the thorns, scrape off the skin from the bottom of the stem and lightly scorch the cut on the flame. Again, shock therapy, but it awakens the latent reserves of the rose for a few more days.
Don't be put off by the rigidity of the procedures. After all, withering, no matter how hard you try, cannot be stopped; but our efforts will extend the life of flowers by 10-14 days. And this, you see, is a lot.
Do you have any tricks for saving bouquets? Their beauty is fragile and short-lived, we will prolong it as far as we can!
Read also: We grow roses from seeds on the windowsill of a city apartment
Another related article: Gymnospermous pumpkin: description. My recommendations for growing and further care of the plant
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