FAQ FRIDAY: Harvesting for maximum vase life
MAY 17, 2024Flowers are fleeting, that’s their nature. To maximize the time you can enjoy your blooms in the vase, harvest at the right stage!
Just like avocados and peaches, flowers have an ideal ripeness stage. Harvest too soon, and the flower may never fully open. Harvest too late, and vase life will decrease dramatically
Some of my favorite flowers and when to harvest them:
Zinnias: use the wiggle test! When you hold a stem about 6” down and jostle it, does the bloom flop about or stay sturdy? Floppy blooms should be left to ripen for additional days, while sturdy blooms may be picked. Some double zinnias (lots of layers of petals), may benefit from being allowed to ripen even further, as they continue to produce more and more petals until harvested!
Cosmos: these wispy blooms should be harvested just as they crack open, and definitely before a pollinator comes to visit! Early morning is best!
Dahlias: dahlias should be harvested fully open, but not overly ripe. Look for the petals on the back of the flower to be flexed backwards, pointing at the stem. However, if those petals are brown, the bloom is overly ripe
Sunflowers: as a long time hater of sunflowers, I’ve hit my stride and found my favorites this year. I harvest sunflowers when the petals are showing color, but just starting to crack open. This stage means they’re open fully in the bouquet!
Roses: one of the quickest flowers to shatter in a bouquet, I harvest roses when the sepals (the green points under the bud) are flexed backwards.
Snapdragons: snip these stems when the bottom third of blooms are open
Ranunculus: common practice is to harvest ranunculus when they’re soft like a marshmallow, though new information coming from ranunculus breeders indicates that these blooms still have impressive vase life when harvested even more open.
Anemones: Anemones have a ruffly collar just under the bud, and I like to harvest these when the collar is one quarter inch below the bud. Anemones open and close daily, so do not use how open the flower is as an indicator!
Many of these stages are for the purpose of harvesting cut flowers to arrange into bouquets for sale. If you are using your blooms in a home bouquet, you can cut at any ripeness stage! In fact, trying several different stages is often the best way to find your preferred harvest stage - it may be later than what flower farmers do!
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