I moved back to Nairobi from Kakuma, Turkana in April 2013 and finally moved out of home in November 2013. From back in the day I had always said that I will be keeping fresh flowers in my house. New flowers each week. I even went as far ahead as buying vases. Almost 3 years down the line I have never bought flowers not even once.
Last week I finally bought fresh flowers. At some point I had thought that buying fresh flowers was quite an investment like minimum Ksh 500 weekly. I then later discovered that a rose is just Ksh 10. A bunch is Ksh 100. Meaning for Kenya shilling 300 I can have fresh flowers in my house weekly! How cool!
Anyway I went out the other day, bought this bunch of flowers for Ksh 200, took them home and was ready to put them in a vase when I thought hey, I can show my African Kaya friends how to make their flowers last longer. So here are a few tips.
- Use a clean vase. I know this sounds a bit silly but it needs to be CLEAN.
- Cut the stems. Cut them with a sharp knife in a slanted way. This gives more surface area for your flowers to suck in water. Then IMMEDIATELY put it in the water.
- Keep away from direct sunlight.
This should work well for your flowers but if you want to make them last even longer here are a few other things to do
- Use WARM water and sprite ratio 3:1 then add 1/4 teaspoon of bleach.
- Use 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of bleach. This is the method I use. The bleach keeps the water clear and prevents bacteria, lemon juice gives acidity to improve flow of water in the stems and sugar keeps the flower buds open.
- Add 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and 2 teaspoons of sugar to warm water.
- Add any clear liquor eg Vodka or gin acts as an antibacterial
I hope your flowers last longer. Mine definitely do.
Leave a comment let me know what else youd like to see on the blog.
Bissous
