Hydrangea is one of the hottest flowers used in event work and this trend has been going strong for quite some time now. There are some who may shy away from using this beautiful flower in their arrangements because of the fact that they tend to wilt fairly easily. ….NEVER FEAR, we are going to list some tips on how to properly prep this flower so that it looks great in your designs throughout your event.

After you bring home your hydrangea there are a few steps you should follow to prepare this flower before you use it in your design:

Design Tip #1: Remove all of the large leaves on the stem of the Hydrangea. The big leaves suck up a large amount of moisture that would otherwise be going to the petals of the flower.

Design Tip #2: Fill your sink or bath tub with water, trim the bottom of the stem and submerge the whole flower in the water for approximately 10-20 minutes. Flowers absorb water through all surfaces of the flower including the petals, stem, bark and leaves….not just through the bottom of the stem as some might think. Ever had wilted, rubbery celery in the refrigerator and soaked it in a bowl of water to make it crisp again? It is the same concept with the Hydrangea.

Design Tip #3: While the Hydrangea are soaking in the tub, fill a bucket with fresh water and add a liberal amount of Alum. Alum is a spice used for pickling and can be found on the spice rack at your local whole foods or grocery store. Alum forces water up the stem of the flower and makes the blooms of the flower nice and hard. Remove the flower from the water, gently shake off the excess and place the flower stem end down into the bucket.

Design Tip #4: While the Hydrangea drinks the Alum & water mixture, spray the bloom of the hydrangea with Crowning Glory. Crowning Glory is a wax based spray that seals the pores in the leaves, stem and petals of the flower preventing the loss of moisture through the flowers pores. Crowning Glory is distributed by Oasis Floral Products and is sold at your local Wholesale Flower Market or on Amazon.com.

Your hydrangea is now processed for use and will look beautiful in your designs for a prolonged period of time!

Ever wonder if the flower food packets you get with your flowers at the supermarket really work?
The flower food packets are used to ‘extend the life’ of your flower arrangement…Well, first we should think about what is killing the flowers in the first place.
~BACTERIA, BACTERIA, BACTERIA!!
Before you mess around with those messy packets of flower ‘food’, I would encourage you to keep the water clean and change it every 2 days or so….this will extend the life of your flowers with out messing around with the packets. Flowers are like our bodies and do the best when hydrated with clean fresh water….when changing your water on a regular basis, you are cutting down on the environment that bacteria grows best in.
At the American Schools of Flower Design, we instruct our students to add 1-2 DROPS of household bleach into the water of their arrangements to take care of any pesky bacteria that insists on polluting your water.
So as a recap of the design tip of the day….
1. Change your flower’s water regularly
2. Add 1-2 Drops of household bleach
3. ENJOY!!