How to Keep Your Delivered Flowers Looking Fresh

It’s always a great surprise to open the door and find that someone has sent you a fresh bouquet of flowers. No matter what the reason, you want to make sure your delivered flowers look great for as long as possible. But how do you keep them looking fresh for more than a few days? Here are some helpful hints and tips.

• For many cut flowers, add lukewarm water. For flowers that come from bulbs, like tulips or daffodils, use cold water.

• If you receive a bouquet that is not in a vase, cut the stems at an angle before putting them in water. If you’ve received a box of roses or carnations, cut the stems under water so no air plugs up the stem.

• Completely change all water every two days. This is one of the most effective things to keep your delivered flowers fresh.

• While you may think keeping flowers in direct sunlight is good, it actually isn’t. Keep them in indirect light.

• Flowers in a cooler area last longer, so keep your arrangements away from heat sources.

• Don’t fill up the entire vase. Stems that are completely submerged will start to decay more quickly.

• Do not place your bouquet near fruit. Most fruits actually give off a specific gas that makes flowers wilt.

• Add some plant food to the water. Just a bit of plant food can keep your bouquets perky and fresh. If you don’t want to use chemicals, you can search the internet for natural plant food recipes.

There are some interesting home remedies that supposedly help keep flowers fresh. Do they really work? No one is really quite certain, but you can give them a try. These alternatives won’t hurt your flowers, so there’s no harm in trying them.

• Add an aspirin tablet and a penny to the vase. The aspirin is supposed to make the water acidic, while the copper works as a fungicide.

• Add two ounces of mouthwash per every gallon of water.

• Add two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, half a teaspoon of bleach, and a tablespoon of sugar to a quart of water.

• Mix one part of lemon-lime soda (such as Sprite) to three parts of water. Then add a fourth teaspoon of bleach. Every four days, add another fourth teaspoon of bleach to the mixture.

The History of Wildflower Florist

Wildflower Florist first opened its doors back in 1979. Kurt Huebner, the founder, set out to create a flower shop that was committed to offering the top floral arrangements and gifts in the Houston area, and Wildflower has stuck to that commitment for over 30 years. By 1998, Wildflower had opened a second shop in Spring, Texas, and shortly thereafter, Cypress Floral Design became a part of Wildflower.

Kurt and his team are completely dedicated to making their customers happy. To meet this goal, they offer many different floral arrangements, plants, and gifts. They also do everything they can to make certain each and every customer is happy with their floral arrangement. Whether you want one of Wildflower’s standard arrangements or want a floral specialist to help you create something unique, you’ll find the Wildflower staff ready to assist you with a smile.

Wildflower is a part of the local Chamber of Commerce, Allied Florists of Houston, the Society of American Florists, FTD, and Teleflora.

Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens

One of Houston’s largest and most interesting botanical gardens is the Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens. Located near Cypress Creek, the gardens cover over 300 acres of beautiful forests, flowerbeds, and wilderness. The Mercer Arboretum was founded by Thelma and Charles Mercer back in the 1940s, and since then, it has expanded and grown, becoming a public facility in 1974.

The arboretum is actually split by the Aldine Westfield Road. To the east is the beautiful botanic garden. It covers over 20 acres of landscaped gardens that include tropical plants, herbs, endangered species, and bamboo. If you’re looking to get some exercise while enjoying the beautiful plants, you’ll find many different walking paths. One of these is the Remembrance Walk, a path that winds around various memorials. You can also stop by the visitor’s center, the courtyard plaza, and enjoy sitting beside a number of relaxing ponds.

On the west side is the arboretum itself. This area features two different playgrounds for children, a picnic area for those wishing to eat lunch outdoors, a couple of barbecue pavilions, and more. The walking trails that wind around the arboretum pass through many different preserved woods and make for a nice, relaxing hike for those who want a bit more wilderness in their walking.

So what exactly can you do at Mercer besides walk around and enjoy the sites? If you love canoeing, you can make a reservation and head out onto the water. The pavilions and picnic areas make great places to hold family reunions, birthday parties, or other events. There’s also a small tea house in which you can take refreshment and enjoy a time-honored tradition.

During August, you’ll find a number of nice flowers in bloom in Mercer. These include the bright purple thunbergia battiscombie (the scrambling sky flower), the tiny salvia uliginosa (Bog Sage), and the star shaped crinum americanum (seven sisters). These bright flowers are just a few among the many amazing blooms you’ll see while exploring Mercer Arboretum and Botanic Gardens. If you need a relaxing weekend or just want to spend an afternoon under the sun, head out to the gardens and enjoy your day.

Why Flowers Make Us Happy

Imagine coming home from a long day of work, walking past your dining room table, and collapsing on your sofa, totally exhausted. Now imaging walking past your dining room table and your eyes catching sight of a gorgeous, bright display of flowers. Don’t you immediately feel better seeing those blossoms and blooms? There’s just something about flowers that tend to make us happy and make the worries of the day vanish or at least seem a bit less stressful. But is there any reason why flowers make us happy?

There actually are several reasons. In fact, a scientific study actually discovered that flowers can stimulate our emotions, specifically our happier emotions, and make us feel better. This study, done by Rutgers University, shows that receiving flowers immediately affects people’s moods. They suddenly feel excited, loved, happy, and delighted. The response was the same across all ages involved in the study.

Long term, flowers also had an impact on mood. The more often people saw the flowers, the happier they were overall. Even after a stressful day, seeing flowers can brighten up a person’s mood, especially if the flowers were sent by a close friend or loved one. By connecting flowers to a specific person, all of the emotions that one might feel towards that person are stirred up by seeing the flowers. This is why lovers and spouses traditionally send each other flowers. Seeing those red roses your husband gave you on your birthday reminds you of just how much you love him. Likewise, the congratulations bouquet your girlfriend sends you to your office helps stir up feelings of just how special she is.

So it’s more than just your imagination: it has been scientifically proven that flowers make us happy! Next time you’re feeling down, order yourself a nice bouquet of flowers. You’ll feel better immediately, and every time you see them for the next week or so, you’ll find yourself smiling.