10 Tips To Keep Roses Looking Great

A bouquet of roses is a great way to show gratitude and express love, but you must also show your roses love in order to keep them bright and beautiful for as long as possible.

Check out our floral experts’ favorite rose care tips that will help you get the absolute most out of your fresh blooms.

1. Keep them Warm
When purchasing any cut flower in colder weather, it is important to make sure they are packaged properly. The floral bag will do its job protecting your roses from the store to the car. However, if the temperature is going to be below 33 degrees, don’t leave them in your car for an extended amount of time.

2. Get them in Water Quickly
Depending on the outdoor temperature, you have about 1-3 hours to get roses into water again after leaving the Floral Department.

3. Use a Clean Vase
It is important to put your roses into a very clean vase. Everyone ahs their own cleaning method, but we recommend keeping it simple with a little bleach and liquid dish soap.

4. Keep Loose Leaves out of the Water
After you unwrap your roses, snip off any leaves that will be below the waterline in the vase. Leaves that are submerged in the water create bacteria that are harmful to the roses.

5. Use an Appropriate Amount of Water and Plant Food
The amount of water you put in your vase depends on the flower food packets you use. Every bouquet of roses from Heinen’s comes with a flower food packet. When purchasing roses, be sure to read the back of the flower food packet and make sure you have enough (sometimes 1 packet is only enough for 1 pint of water!). We recommend filling your vase ½ to ¾ full with cold water.

There are a lot of homemade flower food “tricks,” like adding soda, vodka, or 7UP, but we don’t recommend these solutions. The flower food packs are developed and proven to make your roses last longer! If you run out of the flower food packets, you can add a drop (or ¼ teaspoon) of bleach and a tablespoon of sugar in your vase.

6. Give Them a Clean Cut
After you have your vase prepped with water and flower food, give your roses a clean cut, then get them into the water immediately. You have about 10 seconds to put each stem into the water before the stem starts to heal. This is important because if you wait too long between cutting the rose and putting it into the water it causes air bubbles in the stem which could cause poor hydration for the rose.

It’s also important to use a sharp object to cut the stems. Ordinary scissors are often not sharp enough for this task. You want to use either a very sharp knife or a pair of garden pruners when cutting roses. It is best to cut at an angle.

7. Change the Water
Change the water in your vase every day. A good rule of thumb is if you would not drink your vase water, neither should your flowers. When you change the vase water, be sure to give your roses a fresh cut and use another packet or two (depending on how much you need) of flower food.

8. Keep them Safe from Temperature Extremes
To get the most out of your roses put them in the coolest spot in your home away from lights, extreme drafts and heaters. You’ll also want to keep your them away from fruit or anything that emits ethylene.

9. Wait to Remove Guard Petals
Guard petals are the outer petals on a rose that might be green or brown on the edge. You should wait to remove these petals until the day you are going to use them in an arrangement because removing them shortens the life of a rose.

10. Keep an Eye on your Roses
Roses can last between 5-7 days in a vase; however, some varieties can last up to 2 weeks with proper care! If your roses look sad or droopy, change the water with the flower food solution and re-cut the stems. They should perk up in 2-3 hours.