Tulips, the flower of the season….Last week I had mentioned how much I like them planted tightly in a large group and how I don’t like the look of just a row or two tulips. Hmm….I think I may need to backtrack. It looks like I do enjoy a row or two of tulips if you plant some other plants in between like pansies as seen in this pic taken in front of my office building.
Another issue I have with spring bulbs is that you have to plant them in fall before the ground gets too cold. Come October, November I forget to plant them in time and by the time I finally get around to it we are already in the New Year. After a few attempts like these, I’ve decided that the best way to enjoy them is in vases. So the other day when I saw tulips at our local Wegmans for $6 a bunch I knew I could use them for my dining room reveal post.
As usual with any cut flower, I cut the end of the stems diagonally under running water and plopped them in the vase with the plant food (if you do not have plant food you could just add some sugar). Naah……you don’t stop at that with these babies…….By the time we came back from a shopping trip they looked like this.
Drooping like crazy! I went into super panic mode, “How am I supposed to take the night shots?” Thank God, we live in the internet age! When you have an issue, what you do? You Google! Sure enough I found the answer.
For all flowers with hollow stems like tulips, before you drop them into the vase you need to poke a hole on the stem just below the flower head with a needle or a safety pin or even a tooth pick. And no, the flowers didn’t magically turn yellow, these are from last week. 🙂
Why? As soon as the flowers are in the water air bubbles will rise up the stem. Once the air bubble is inside it blocks the water from reaching the flower head. As a result the flower doesn’t get the required amount of water and starts drooping. The hole next to the flower head acts as exit for the air bubble, thereby keeping the hollow stem block free.
Sure enough it did the trick! See, they are on their way up.
Seems pretty obvious, right? Another puzzling fact is that in all my years reading decorating and gardening blogs I have never come across this. Or maybe it is such a common fact that you are supposed to know it? Coming from a tropical place where tulips are nonexistent, it sure was news to me. Anyway, with this post I’ve hopefully saved some Googling time for at least a few of you.
Update: It seems there are quite a few tried and tested ways to keep tulips in a vase from drooping. Thank you to all of you who shared your tricks.
- Put a penny in the vase.
- Instead of cutting the stems on the diagonal like you’d do normally cut the stems straight.
- To keep them from opening, add ice to water
Good idea.Tulips looks nice in the beautiful vase.
Thanks Prajusha.
Tulips are the only cut flower that continues to grow. That’s why they droop.
Tulips are my favourite flower and I have never heard of such a thing. My daughter worked in a flower shop for a while and she never heard of this either. Thanks a million!
And it works. Thanks for stopping by Diane. Here is to no more drooping Tulips!
V
I was a master floral designer for years until recently changing jobs. The penny in the vase works wonders!! And plain tap water. For some reason the flower food seems to clog the stems.
I had the same problem the other day and totally didn’t know what I was doing wrong! Amazing. Going to try and rescue my dropping tulips tonight.
Hope it worked out for you Viv.
Also…to keep from opening, add ice to water
Thanks Jenn. Will keep that in mind the next I have tulips.
Does that work for any other flowers?
Mary,
I would think it would work with flowers that have a tube like stem like the tulip. Like daffodils, amaryllis, hyacinths etc. even gerber daisies.
Hello! A good trick with tulips is also not cutting the stems diagonally. I was told by a florist that if you cut them diagonally (I used to do it too), they start drooping but if you cut them just simply straight, they will stay straight in the vase. I’ve been doing this for a while and it works 🙂
As a florist we put a penny in the vase & they stand straight up! Works every time.
Hi,
I tried poking a hole and my tulips woke up within an hour or less, though I cut the stem diagonally !
amazing …
But yes, Shelly or V,
How does the coin help to make it stand ? Whats the logic ? though I did not try.
It’s often said that dropping a penny made prior to 1982 into the vase will help keep the stems upright instead of drooping due to the copper in the water. (Only pennies made before 1982 have 95% copper in them. Newer pennies will not work so SAVE those old pennies and use them for your floral arrangements.) The copper in the penny acts as a fungicide and naturally kills any bacteria that may be hiding in your flower vase.
As an avid gardener , I was amazed to learn this! Thanks!
What does putting a penny in the jar do?
Thank You soo much for that tip —- I took them back to the store and requested my money back! tulips and daffys are my fav . thank you for sharing.
Well mine drooped something awful in a matter of a few hours! Just went and poked the hole for the air bubble, added a penny and ice to the water! Going to sleep and sure hope for resurrection tulips for Easter Sunday(tomorrow)!!! Thanks for the info! Love the Internet!
I bought a bouquet of tulips yesterday for my daughter’s birthday party and as soon as I brought them home and put them in a vase, they drooped like crazy – I completely panicked! These tricks worked amazingly and the flowers look fabulous today!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!
So glad these worked for you Sara.
What about rose dropped
For roses I think you could just dry them. They drop when they start to wilt.
Recut the rose stems (diagonally) and stand them in one inch of boiling water for about 5 minutes. This removes air, increases water flow up the stem and the flower will revivie.
Thanks so much for the tip about poking a hole in the stems!! I love tulips and had never heard this!!
Ive never found the penny thing to work, but Ive just put some drooping tulips in with some lilies. They are now standing bang straight and have opened up. Im amazed !!
Shame I can’t send before and after photos. Either the penny of pricking them in the neck seemed to do the trick!! I think it maybe the latter. I’ll have to experiment further without the penny.
This was a fluke, but I was burning incense underneath my tulips, and by the time the stick was done, they were standing up straight again!!! And they stayed that way, even when they died.
Ha ha.. that’s good to know. Glad it worked.
This this work for tulips that you’ve had for awhile, maybe 5-7 days? Gonna try and see.
Not sure you can try.