It's hard to resist purchasing a bouquet of flowers for your home every time that you walk by a floral shop. The beautiful and fragrant flowers can easily brighten up any room. Unfortunately, although beautiful, fresh cut flowers don't have a particularly long shelf life. Garden roses have a vase life of anywhere from 4 to 12 days whereas peonies can only last anywhere from 5 to 10 days. To extend the vase life of your flowers, consider placing the stems in floral foams. Here are 3 tips that you should know about if you intend to try.

Let the Foam Sink Into the Water

For the floral foam to be effective, it needs to be soaked into the water. While you might be tempted to dip the foam into the vase water or to rinse it under a sink, these two methods will introduce air bubbles into the foam. This can prevent the flowers from getting the water that they need. The best course of action is to simply place the foam on top of the water in the vase, and let it slowly absorb the water naturally and sink to the bottom. This will give air bubbles ample time to dissipate.

Soak the Foam in Distilled Water Instead Flower Food Solutions

While you might be tempted to add flower food solutions that contain nutrients into the water that will be soaked up by the floral foam, it's actually a bad idea. The chemicals and ingredients in the solution actually encourage bacterial growth on the foam, which will end up contaminating the entire vase. The floral foam already contains chemicals that will balance the pH in the water and keep your flowers healthy, so it's best to just use distilled water instead.

Make Sure that the Foam Is Cut to the Right Size

Another reason that the floral foam might not be doing an effective job is if the foam is not completely submerged in the water in the vase. You can buy floral foams in the blocks and easily cut them to the shape that you need. Measure the dimensions of the vase that the foam will be placed in, and make sure that the corners are not sticking out when the foam is submerged in water.

Conclusion

Floral foam can keep the bouquet of flowers looking fresh and alive for a longer amount of time. The foam can be cut to a variety of different shapes. Wait until the foam has absorbed all of the water that it can before sticking the stems of your flowers into them. The foam will keep the flowers in place.

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