Cutting Roses For Long Lasting Display

What could smell or look lovelier than a vase full of stunning roses? Roses, especially hybrid tea roses, are made to be cut, and they can last a very long time in a vase if you follow some simple tips.

Tips For Cutting

• Always make sure you cut your roses with a sharp, clean pair of shears. Dull shears will crush the rose's stem, and dirty shears can transmit disease from your other blooms.


• Roses store and process their nutrients on a schedule. Hold off cutting your roses until after 3 p.m. when their nutrient levels are the highest.


• Once a bud has fully opened, it's too late to cut. Choose buds that have started to open, but are only 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through the process.


• Don't remove all of the leaves from the cut stem. Keep at least 3 to help feed the bloom, cutting off only those leaves that will be below the water level of the vase.


• Once you have finished cutting all the roses you want for the day, bring them inside and begin the water conditioning and hardening process.

Tips For Preserving

Now that they are cut, the clock starts ticking.

• The first threat to a cut rose's health is the air that it sucked up when you cut the stem outdoors. This little air pocket that entered the cut stem works its way up to the bloom, cutting off its nutrient supply and shortening the bloom's life.


• That air needs to be replaced with water. The easiest way to do that is to fill a bowl with hot tap water, as hot as you can stand to put your hands into, but not scalding hot.


• Add whatever floral preservative you use, plus a few drops of bleach.


• Now place all of the rose stems into the bowl. Do not let the buds touch the hot water.


• Use your shears and cut approximately 1/4 inch off the end of each stem, and leave the roses in the bowl until the water cools to room temperature.


• Fill your vase with warm water, and add a drop or 2 of bleach and a bit of preservatives. Then add your roses.


• This little bit of extra work, plus the few drops of bleach, will vastly extend the vase life of your cut roses.


• Whenever the water starts to get cloudy, remove the roses, refill the vase with warm water, add another drop or 2 of bleach, and return the roses to the vase at once.


• When your blooms begin to show signs of wilting, re-cut about an 1/8 of an inch from the stems and place them in hot water for about an hour before returning them to the vase.

Roses can live for an amazingly long time in a vase if you understand what it takes to keep them alive.