How to Keep Flowers Fresh in Your Flower Shop

A question every florist faces every day:

How do you keep flowers fresh in your shop for as long as possible? And what do you need to watch to make them last?

How to keep flowers fresh in a flower shop

The quality of the flowers when they arrive

Not every delivery that reaches your shop is the same.

Several things affect how fresh the flowers are.

The grade of flowers you buy

Some flowers can be bought straight from the auction in a lower grade, at a lower purchase price.

A reliable importer will tell you the grade of every flower before you buy.

As a rule, steer clear of the lower grades.

If you suspect your supplier is selling you lower-grade flowers without telling you, and without you asking for them, change suppliers straight away.

Transport time and conditions from importer to shop

If your shop is at one end of the country, we wouldn’t recommend ordering from an importer at the other end.

Look for a wholesale supplier as close to you as possible. If your supplier gets the flowers into their warehouse on Wednesday but they don’t reach you until Thursday or Friday, it’s time to look elsewhere.

The extra time flowers spend in boxes, often in less than ideal conditions, damages their freshness for good.

Storage temperature

You probably know this already: to slow the blooms opening, and with them the loss of freshness, keep flowers at 2–5 °C.

The warmer it gets, the faster they fade.

Some florists say that, kept like this, flowers can stay fresh for up to 3 weeks.

A chiller display or a cold room

The best way to keep storage temperatures low is a refrigerated display cabinet or a cold room. It costs money, and it takes up extra space in the shop.

Keeping flowers on the shop floor

You can also keep flowers out on the shop floor.

Bear in mind that they’ll stay fresh for about 7–9 days.

Ideally, the room temperature shouldn’t go above 19–20 °C.

If your shop faces north, holding that temperature is easy, even in summer, as long as your air conditioning unit is the right size for the space.

A south-facing shop with big windows makes it much harder to keep the temperature right in summer.

Whatever your premises, on very hot days it’s very hard to keep the shop at 19–20 °C. And on those days that temperature is not a good idea anyway: going from 35 °C outside to 19 °C inside all day is hard on you, not just on the flowers.

Hygiene, cutting stems and other tips

Whatever you tell your customers to do, do it yourself too.

Every 2–3 days, cut 1–2 cm off the stem ends at a 45° angle so they take up as much water as possible.
Change the water in the vases daily and keep them clean inside, disinfecting them with detergent or chlorine bleach whenever needed.
Strip off excess leaves and keep only the foliage you need.
Make sure the air conditioning doesn’t blow straight onto the flowers.
In winter, keep heaters and other heat sources well away from the flowers.

Flower food that slows opening

Products such as Chrysal, and similar brands, slow down opening and help flowers stay fresh.

You add it to the water, following the instructions on the pack.

It really does make a difference.

Most suppliers sell it – just be aware that it’s sometimes out of stock.

A few special cases

Hydrangeas

Dutch hydrangeas are prone to wilting. When you see it happening, recut the stems at 45° and mist the flower heads directly with water.

Tulips and freesias

Store these in a dark place. Light makes them open faster.

The journey flowers make affects how long they last

How far the flowers have travelled, and how long they’ve been out of the cold chain, matter more than the country on the label.

Keeping peonies in cold storage for up to 3 months

Peony season starts in May and lasts three or four weeks at most — but you can keep the buds in the fridge for up to three months, ready for weddings in June, July and August.