Fountain of Youth: Testing the vase life of Sun Valley's Lilies and Matsomotos

Shocking, Royals and Matsomotos

I wanted to know just how long our Royal LA Hybrid Lilies, Sonata OT Lilies and Matsomoto Asters would live once I took them home from the farm... Okay, no I didn't. I really wanted to adorn the lovely vase that my sister made for me and fill my dining room with their beautiful appearance and fragrance! But testing their vase life was an added bonus of bringing these beauties into my home.

The picture above was taken 12 days after I put the flowers in water (placed in indirect sunlight, temperature set to 68 degrees, with no flower food). While the petals are just starting to curl, the arrangement still looks and smells wonderful. I'll give it a good three days more before filling my vase with another bunch of Sun Valley flowers.

And next time I'm throwing some flower food into the arrangement. Before I came on board at Sun Valley, all I knew about flower food was that it nourishes flowers, which is essentially all one needs to know.

However, having a little better understanding of flower food makes a stronger case for actually utilizing flower food. Let me put it this way: Cut flowers need four conditions for maximum vase life, which are as follows:
1) water,
2) energy (sugar)
3) free-flowing vessels within the stems to transport nutrients, and
4) proper pH balance.

Once flowers leave the ground and get placed in your vase of water, they continue to grow slowly, but it's harder for them to receive the nutrients that are vital for their survival. The sugars in the flower food will be used by the plant as an energy source, while the acidifiers will helps balance the pH of the water. In addition, flower food contains "stem unpluggers" that will ensure that the flowers have those "free-flowing vessels" in order to take up water and nutrients.

As you can see, the combination of water and flower food gives your freshly cut flowers everything that they need to survive longer.

Hurrah for flower food!