7 Steps to Keeping your Roses Healthy for longer this Valentine's day

1. Place your roses into water as soon as you can! This will prevent dehydration which causes the flower head to droop early.
2. Prepare a mixture of water combined with flower food. If you don't have any flower food here are a couple of quick and easy DIY mixtures you can try:
1. Add a table spoon of sugar and a small amount of bleach into a vase of warm water. The sugar will help feed the flower and the bleach will keep the water clean from bacteria
2. Or substitute bleach for copper, this should have the same effect of keeping your water clear from yeast and fungi.

3. Remove excess leaves that may fall into the water. Wet leaves will rot and the resulting bacteria will affect the water.
4. Lay the stems side ways under water and slice off about an inch. Angle the slice to a 45 degree to expose more stem for the rose drink the water better. Be careful not crush the stems.
5. Using warm water is best as the flower can digest it more quickly
6. It is best to change the water every day. Even when using the above bleach/copper mixture the water will still go bad after a while; the build up of bacteria will kill the flowers and cause the water to smell.
7. Roses will keep longer in a cool climate and away from sunlight

Happy Valentine's Day!