Flowers make a great gift for all occasions and every moment in between. There are some guidelines and tips that you can follow to prolong the life of your flowers.

We will be sharing all the information you need about making flowers last longer, as well as putting some theories to the test.

9 Creative Ways to Make Flowers Last Longer

Here are the results of research on how to make flowers last longer when placed in controlled environments.

The Setup

Each vase was filled with one Flower Food packet and lukewarm Water. We changed the water and cleaned the vase, then added the same ingredients to the vase again on day 3.

See below for information on each of these secrets, how you can make them yourself and what happened during the next seven days.

Apple Cider Vinegar & Sugar Before adding the flowers, mix 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar with 2 tablespoons of water in a vase. Vinegar acts to kill bacteria, while sugar is an additional food source for flowers. It was close behind sugar and apple cider vinegar, but it didn’t win the title of worst.

Aspirin: Mix 1 teaspoon of crushed aspirin in a vase with fresh flowers. Aspirin lowers the pH level, which allows water to move through flowers faster and prevents wilting. Although Aspirin may be the answer to your headache, it is not the best option for keeping your flowers fresh.

Bleach: Bleach can be added to fresh flowers in a vase. They will stay fresher for a quarter of a teaspoon. Bleach can prevent your water from becoming cloudy and fight bacteria. Although the bleach helped keep the water from becoming too cloudy, it did not make the bouquet lasts as long as it was in place.

Coins: To your bouquet, add a copper penny. Copper should be used as an acidifier to fight bacteria growth in your bouquet. The copper penny was able to open the blooms nicely on Day 4. It is possible that the copper penny caused the flowers’ opening to be too rapid, which could have led to some wilting flowers on day 7.

Flower Food: Flower food is a proven way to preserve fresh blooms for longer periods. All the tested bouquets received a packet containing flower food.

Fridge: Your bouquet should be kept in the refrigerator every night before you go to bed, usually for 8 hours. Cooler temperatures are good for flowers. Low temperatures are believed to slow down aging.

Hair spray: Spray your flowers with hairspray. This theory is not supported by science, but hairspray holds your hair in place, so it should work.

Soda: In a vase with fresh flowers, pour 1/4 cup of soda. The soda was our second choice for making flowers last longer. The soda bouquet looked just as healthy on day 10, with the exception that the flowers opened up more.

Vodka: A few drops of vodka or any other clear spirit can be added to your vase of flowers. Vodka has a different effect on flowers. Vodka’s ability to slow down ethylene production, which is a ripening agent that aids plants in maturity, reduce the flower’s wilting.

Now you know a few more tricks to prolong the life of your bouquets. Take a look at Darlinghurst florist’s same-day flower delivery options.