I’m sure we’ve all had the experience of buying or cutting a gorgeous bouquet of hydrangeas and waking up the next day, looking at a withered, limp, sorry-looking bunch flowers. 🙁

They’re so beautiful – how to we get them to last longer?

Here’s a few tips to keep those hydrangeas looking their best.

Cut flowers in the morning. Since there’s more water in the stems in morning, they’ll naturally be plumper (and stay hydrated longer).

Once cut from the shrub, lightly smash 2-3 inches of the ends. I use the wooden end of a meat cleaver. …I know it sounds horrific, but trust me.

Smashing the ends, gives the stem more surface area to draw water.

Dip the smashed ends into boiling water for a few seconds…..stay with me..I promise this works.

Here’s why it works – when you cut a hydrangea, it secretes a sticky residue to protect the end you just cut. If you don’t dissolve this residue, it’ll prevent water in the vase from being sucked up by the stem. That’s why the flowers to wilt so quickly -they can’t get water.

The boiling water dissolves this sticky residue so the stem can bring water to the the flower.

After a few seconds in the boiling water – put the flowers in fresh water be sure to change the water every other day.

See, I told you it was gonna be ok!

Interested in drying hydrangeas? Here’s how.