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How to make Valentine's Day flowers last longer: 6 hacks

Joe Difazio   | Paste BN
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With Valentine's day just around the corner, there will be tons of roses, and all kinds of flowers exchanged. American consumers are expected to spend nearly $26 billion on Valentine's Day this year, according to the National Retail Federation. The federation anticipates flowers to be one of the top gifts, behind cards and candy. 

The holiday's origins date back to the Middle Ages and may possibly come from a marriage of Christian and pagan traditions, according to History.com. Lupercalia was a Roman fertility celebration in February. Looking to Christianize the holiday, the Catholic Church tied it to Saint Valentine. However, exactly which Valentine that was is unclear. The reason being there were three of them, each having a back story that involved romance. 

Tips to make flowers last longer

  1. Trim the foliage of the flowers about 3/4th of the way up their stems so that no leaves are touching the water. The amount you trim will vary, depending on the size of the vase you use. 
  2. Trim the bottom of the stems at an angle. 
  3. The vase should be filled halfway up with lukewarm water. Many flowers come with custom food, add it following the instructions. If you run out of flower food, or the flowers didn't come with any you can make your own. You add two tablespoons each of sugar and white vinegar to four cups of water. 
  4. Be sure to change your flowers and feed them every one to two days. 
  5. Keep your flowers out of direct sunlight and away from fruits and vegetables, which will cause your flowers to wilt. 
  6. You can store your flowers in the fridge overnight to keep them fresh even longer. 

Reporting from Paste BN's Olivia Munson was used in this article. 

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