Hello! a couple of weeks ago I bought three carnations, red, white and pink. I put them in a vase with a couple teaspoons of sugar. The next day, the flowers practically broke in half from drooping over, so I cut just above where they folded, reducing the stem to half the average length of most store-bought carnations. I returned them to the vase. A few days ago I noticed that thin green shoots were growing from the middle of the flowers, and that the flowers themselves appeared to be rotting... Now, I'm asking two things: 1. Is this usual behaviour of carnations or cut flowers? I've never seen or heard of this happening (in my VERY limited knowledge of flowers. ;) ) 2. Can I perhaps encourage the growth of these stems into carnation plants and keep them alive?
First, you never know how old they were to begin with so that is always a veritable. Did you re cut the stems before you put them in water? That is very important because they might have been out of water too long and the pores might have been blocked. Some plants do grow leaves out of the center of the flowers, some roses in particular, but I forget the scientific name for it. It is unlikely but possible that it will grow roots. Give it some light and see what happens. Florist carnations are not easy to grow, they are not very cold hardy and they need support.
Yes, I cut the stems, at an angle, before I put them in water the first time. After I cut the stems the second time, the flowers themselves rested on the top of the vase, the stems not touching the bottom of the vase. There probably was & is not very much air circulation around the base of the flowers due to this, which may be another explanation...?
