QUESTION:
Are there ways to keep your roses looking vibrant, perky and fresh?
ANSWER:
Yes, according to local florists!
SOURCES:
Anna Deriquito- Florist at York Flowers in D.C.
Venus et Fleurs
PROCESS:
It's two days before Valentines Day and there's a flurry of hands cradling cellophane and stems. Some twiggy trimmings fall to the floor like a flower barbershop.
"There's never a dull day here," said Anna Deriquito, marketing manager and florist at York Flowers.
February 14 is their busiest day of the year.
Americans will spend $19.7 billion on this day for their lovers, according to the National Retail Federation. Just over $2 billion alone will be spent on flowers.
So, wouldn't it be nice if your special bouquet went a little further?
Consider this a Verify Valentine's Day gift to you.
VERIFY TIP 1: Change the Water
Anna said their roses are guaranteed to last four days, but have gone on to last up to 12. The first trick is changing the water.
"If you change the water at least every other day, it really does help the length of their life," Anna said.
VERIFY TIP 2: Cut the stem daily
Check to make sure the water's getting to the bulb. Cutting off a centimeter to an inch of the stem every day helps open up the stem's 'veins.'
"Cutting the rose stems--it's like a wound. So, you cut it and it immediately wants to close up," Anna explained. You have to open it again and put it in water--make it drink better."
VERIFY TIP 3: Trim those leaves
You wouldn't know it, but in the cut flower food chain, a rose's leaves compete with the bulb for water. By snipping off the leaves, more water can make its way to those petals--adding to their shelf life.
VERIFY TIP 4: Keep away from light and heat
Fresh roses have a compact, turtle-peeking-out-of-its-shell look. As it gets exposed to heat and sunlight, the petals splay open into regal tiers. That's why some flowers in the store are kept in coolers, appearing smaller.
VERIFY TIP 5: Add something sweet
Because cut flowers kept away from sunlight can't photosynthesis the same way, Anna says, try adding flower food or sugar to the water and watch them perk up.
On Valentine's Day, a dozen roses at York Flowers costs $75. At a grocery store, like Giant, they're about $25.
If you don't feel like doing any work to resuscitate your roses (or any work at all), our Verify researchers found "eternity flowers," which cost $520 and are supposed to last up to a year.
To Verify how well they last, we grabbed a box from a segment that aired on Great Day Washington back in November.
Three months later the box still smells great, but they're a little crunchy.
Each rose is bleached and then dehydrated and injected with natural oils and a wax formula similar to silica, according to Venus et Fleur's FAQ page. They sit in tanks of dye to keep that florescent hue.
We haven't Verified whether they actually last 12 months. We tried to find a customer who had them for a year, but so far no luck.