Rose Seeds

care & keeping

The small chapters
of good care.

Four short chapters on the things that most often go wrong — and the small acts that make the difference between a bouquet that lasts three days and one that lasts three weeks.

Cutting from the garden

01

Cutting from the garden

How to bring flowers indoors without shortening their life.

  1. 01

    Cut in the cool of the morning.

    Before ten, if you can. Stems are full of water then; by afternoon they've spent much of it on the day.

  2. 02

    Take a bucket of tepid water with you.

    Plunge each stem the moment it's cut. Every minute of air-exposure shortens the vase life by hours.

  3. 03

    Cut on a long diagonal.

    A slanted cut increases the surface area for drinking and stops the stem from sealing against the bottom of the vase.

  4. 04

    Strip anything below the waterline.

    Submerged leaves rot within a day and cloud the water. A clean stem is a long-lived stem.

Water, and how to keep it kind

02

Water, and how to keep it kind

The single lever with the largest effect on vase life.

  1. 01

    Cool, not cold.

    Room-temperature water for most flowers; cold for tulips and bulbs; warm (nearly hot) to force woody stems like lilac and quince to drink.

  2. 02

    Change it every other day.

    Fully. Rinse the vase, re-cut the stems by a centimetre, refill. Twice a week is the minimum, not the standard.

  3. 03

    Add a small acid.

    A teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice per litre lowers pH and slows bacteria — a gentler, cheaper flower food.

  4. 04

    Keep them out of the sun.

    A cool spot away from radiators and fruit will double most bouquets' lifespan.

Pruning roses

03

Pruning roses

A small, brave act — done once a year.

  1. 01

    Time it right.

    Late winter to very early spring, while the plant is still dormant. Never after the buds have broken.

  2. 02

    Cut to an outward-facing bud.

    45° angle, half a centimetre above the bud, sloping away. Growth will follow the direction you cut toward.

  3. 03

    Take out the three D's.

    Dead, diseased, damaged. Then any two branches that cross or rub. Open the centre for air.

  4. 04

    Feed after cutting.

    A handful of composted manure at the base, watered in. Roses are heavy feeders and will pay you back in June.

Drying and pressing

04

Drying and pressing

How to keep summer in a drawer.

  1. 01

    Choose flowers slightly past their peak.

    Fully open blooms hold shape best. Petals just beginning to relax dry with the most colour.

  2. 02

    Hang in small bunches, upside down.

    Somewhere dry, dark and well-ventilated. Two weeks for most flowers; three for anything with a thick stem.

  3. 03

    Press between blotting paper.

    Under a stack of heavy books for ten days. Change the paper every three days for the first week.

  4. 04

    Store away from light.

    Sun bleaches dried flowers within weeks. Keep them in tissue, in a drawer, and bring them out for winter.

and finally

"The garden asks very little, and gives back a great deal. Most of the work of a good garden is simply showing up — on the same days, at roughly the same time, with the same small kindnesses."

"Your body, your garden, your rules. Tend it like the miracle it is."

— from the Rose Seeds garden journal