Your cannot prevent cut flowers from wilting.Follow these simple tips however and you will be amazed at how much life you can get out your flowers and how good they can really look.

1.) Make sure the glass vase you use is well cleaned. If there have been other flowers or plants used previously in the same vase, clean it out thoroughly to get rid of any plant chemicals or bacteria than have probably built up

2.) If you are using your own flowers, pick them either in the early morning or in the evening. This is the time when the flower has cooled and will help it last longer. The flowers have more food stored in their body in the early morning than any other time so this is really the best time to harvest

3.) For your own flowers, place them in a bucket of water up to their heads overnight to allow them to soak up as much as possible. This is not needed for bought flowers as they will already have been treated.

4.) When you cut the flower stems, cut at an angle to expose as much of the inner stem as possible. This will provide a larger surface area that is in contact with water and will mean the flower is able to soak up more.

5.) Place the flowers in maybe a nice crystal vase permitting the water about 3/4 of the way up the stem. Make sure your plant feed contains an acid, a sugar and a biocide. The biocide will take out most of the fungus and bacteria, the acid will promote the taking up of water by the stem and the sugar provides the needed nutrients.

6.) Make sure you change the water every couple of days rather than just top it up. This will give the flower fresh water and will remove some of the bacteria and other growths

7.) If the base of the stems get dirty or clogged up, take the flowers out and re-cut the stems a little further up.

Follow the above tips and you can enjoy your flowers for much longer than you thought possible