Been a long time since I've posted, but here I am. We are preparing for a wedding this weekend, and amongst the hundreds of flower plants my Sister has planted for the wedding arrangements, she has chosen heliotrope (not sure of the variety, but looks like Marine to me, but unsure if that can be purchased as seeds). I know from years ago, when I grew Marine heliotrope, I would make cuttings and have gardens full of the beauty. She would like to cut the flowers today, to make the arrangements and have them set around the location this evening. I have searched the internet to refresh my memory of how to treat this cut flower to make it last longer. I recall clearly, from years ago, that the flower heads wilted pretty fast and I do recall something that I had read about plunging the cut flowers into cold water and placing in a fridge, but that memory is very unclear. It would be very appreciated if I could get some ideas this morning on how to make the flower heads that we will be cutting today last nicely until tomorrow, which is the big day. Is not heliotrope the most beautiful colour and fragrance that takes you back to the days when these probably graced our Mothers' gardens, smiling....thank you in advance
Different sites have different recommendations. Purdue University Coop Extension recommends either charring the cut end or dipping the cut end in boiling water for 30 seconds. Territorial Seed Company recommends using bleach on the knife and a little bit in the water. Russell Gardeners (PDF) also recommends the flame treatment, as well as keeping the plants in warm water.
Thank you Daniel, I actually did some more googling and came up with a good site that had a pdf on how to care for almost any cut flower. Pretty stoked. I seared the ends and kept the flowers in tepid water. We'll see how they have fared overnight. Have a wonderful day, Cindi oops, forgot to give the pdf site that I found, it is very informative http://www.russellgardeners.ca/pdf/chart_on_preparation.pdf
