Forever Flowers

I love coming home and seeing fresh flowers in my house. They just lift the spirit and make everything so bright and summery.
But flowers can be expensive and replacing them every few days is not really an option, but thankfully there are hints and tricks to making them last...

My mum has always said that half an aspirin in a vase helps restore drooping flowers and increases their longevity, and from my experience this really does help. Just be sure to change the water every few days.

I decided however to do a little research into this and see whether it is actually fact and what else helps. Turns out there are quite a few ways to make your blooms last...

Basically the trick is to inhibit bacteria growth in the vase and feed the flowers, so with that in mind, the below do tend to make sense.

1 - Aspirin.
This works. Trust me. I guess the Aspirin must stop formation of bacteria.

2 - Sugar and Vinegar.
According to Readers Digest, to make your blossoms last much longer than usual, dissolve 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons white vinegar per litre of warm water. This apparently works because the sugar nourishes the plants, while the vinegar inhibits bacterial growth.

3 - Bleach
3 drops of bleach and 1 teaspoon of sugar is said to help your lovely bouquet. I guess the bleach must have the same affect as the vinegar in the above tip?

4 - Copper penny
Drop a copper penny in the vase with a cube of sugar. Apparently the copper acts like a fungicide according to Squidoo. (Once again, I suppose, copper, vinegar and bleach all kill bacteria)

5 - Vodka
Because even flowers like to party every now and then?  Nope, if your kitchen and purse are bare and all you have are flowers and a bar, then vodka and water will do the same in making your blooms beautiful. Just be sure to change water every 2nd day.