The temperature spikes at Valentine’s Day, fueled by romantic fires and the flames of love.
But the roses you received to celebrate the holiday will last longest – a week or more – if you keep them away from heat sources, such as a vent or direct sunlight.
Before you go to bed, place the roses in an unheated room or garage (but not below 32 degrees as flowers can freeze), then put them back on display in the morning.
Water daily
It’s also important to give the roses plenty to drink. Even cut flowers get thirsty, so add water pretty much every day.
For roses in a vase:
- If after five days or so the water is getting dirty, pull the roses out, re-cut the stems and put them back in the vase with fresh water.
- Add a packet of floral preservative, available from your florist.If the water is relatively clean, leave it alone as it will have some preservative left in it.
For roses loose or in a box:
- If the roses came with tubes on the stems, remove the tubes and re-cut the stems about 1 inch from the bottom. It is best to cut at an angle, which creates more surface area for water intake.
- Place the roses in a vase with water that is room temperature to a little warm.
- Add floral preservative to the water; you should have received a packet with the delivery.
- Only change the water if it becomes noticeably dirty.
If roses don’t open
Within a day or two, your roses should begin to open. If not, remove them from the vase, re-cut the stems at an angle, and return them to the vase.
If they still do not open, re-cut the stems and float the flowers in a bath of water for an hour or two to rehydrate them. Then return them to the vase.
Most times, this will bring the roses around.
Just taking these steps, which require only minutes each day, you will have Valentine’s Day roses that look beautiful for a week or longer.