Love the golden colour of sunflowers? Make the most of summer’s long-stem beauties with these suggestions for showing them off and making them last.
Sunflowers are famous for their delicious seed snacks, but they’re also a beautiful late summer flower. Whether you plan to make a handheld bouquet or arrange them in a vase, here are a few tips on how to handle sunflowers to ensure they have a long, lovely life.
Selecting your sunflowers
If you're cutting directly from your garden, be sure to choose sunflowers with tight centres and no wilted petals. Only take the ones that are a foot or longer, as shorter ones still need to do some growing.
Use sharp pruning shears to clip the stems and place the flowers immediately in a bucket of cool water.
If you are choosing sunflowers from a florist, be sure they are fresh and bring them home in water so they don’t wilt.
2. Sunflowers in a vase
If you're planning to arrange the sunflowers in a vase, first fill the container with water. If you bought your flowers from a florist and were given flower food, add it to the water and give it a good stir to make sure the powder dissolves.
Before you put the flowers in the vase, there is another step you can take to ensure the long life of these gorgeous beasts. Place each sunflower stem under cool running water. Trim another few inches off the stem (while it’s under the stream of water) at a 45-degree angle. Take off any excess leaves that would sit under the water line in the vase (this helps keep the water clean) but keep the higher leaves, as the pop of green helps frame the bouquet.
Keep the sunflowers with large blooms the longest, and trim the stems of the smaller blooms slightly shorter. When arranging in the vase, this will create a full bouquet with flowers at different heights.
3. Hand-held bouquet
Trim the stems while holding them under water. Then place the sunflowers in a vase that has water and plant food for approximately one hour. This will give the flowers time to soak up all the nutrients.
Take the flowers out of the water and place on paper towels, gently dabbing the ends of the stems.
Take the three flowers with the longest stems and hold them in your hand. Ensure each flower is facing in a different direction. Now add the remaining flowers, one at a time to the bouquet, arranging them so each flower faces away from the three in the centre.
Take a rubber band and wrap around the stems approximately six inches (15 cm) from the base of the flowers. Trim the bottom of the stems so they are all the same length.
Cover the rubber band with whatever ribbon, string, or material you are using thematically for your wedding, event, or home decor.
