How to Keep Hydrangeas Alive For a Long Time

I love to treat myself to hydrangeas around the house, so I tend to pick them up from the grocery store pretty regularly. This little luxury was starting to get expensive after weekly fresh blooms, so I started researching and trying advice I’d found to keep my hydrangeas lasting beautifully for a long time. If you love hydrangea blooms, you’ll want to try out these tips.  So far, I’ve gotten my hydrangeas to stay looking fresh and beautiful at a minimum of 3 weeks and the longest has been just a few days shy of one month. 

Want to hear my tips and tricks to help your hydrangea blooms? Score them below!

A hydrangea bouquet I picked from my mom's garden a few weeks ago.

Here are the supplies you’ll need:

• Favorite vase
• Old scissors or a sharp knife
• Boiling hot water
• Hydrangea food (if included in your bouquet)

My trick to keeping my hydrangeas lasting for weeks on end is...boiling hot water!  Yep, your blooms will love it and will keep them looking beautiful for a long time.

So, what do I do?  Here’s my step-by-step process:

1. Gather materials from above.
2. Boil hot water on the stove OR I use our kitchen tap water because it gets insanely hot
3. Pour boiling water into a vase (be careful, a glass vase can break, but I’ve personally never had it happen to me).  For safety purposes, I put the vase in the kitchen sink and then pour the water into the vase, so it won’t splash up on me.
4. Put the flower food inside the water. Sometimes my flowers come with this and sometimes they don’t.  If they don’t you can stick your cut stems in alum before placing in the water.
5. Cut flower stems at a sharp angle. You can use old scissors or a knife. I’ve used both and typically reach for the old scissors. 

**If a hydrangea stem has a lot of leaves on it, I will yank most off just because the water goes straight to the leaves first, so your blooms are less likely to last. I do love the look of the leaves, so I will leave a few near the top.

Every other day or two, I repeat this process and give my flowers fresh boiling water. There have been times that I forget and as soon as I see my flowers looking tired or beginning to wilt, I immediately give them fresh boiling water. 

After having the flowers for a week or so, I typically re-cut the stems at a sharp angle when replenishing the water. If I have left the leaves on the stem, I’ll go ahead and take the remainder off, just because I want all that water to go straight to keeping the blooms healthy.

I adorn every corner of my kitchen, dining room, and desk with these beauties. These blooms were a few weeks old at this point.

Another tip that I’ve found to be helpful when keeping hydrangea blooms lasting for a long time is that despite loving boiling hot water, they like to be cold too. Crazy, I know, but trust me on this one. You can use the refrigeration trick regardless if they are starting to wilt or not. Clear out some space for your vase of flowers in your refrigerator and they will love it!  Overnight or during the day while you’re at work, treat your blooms to a cool stay and it will help keep them looking fabulous.

**If you don't have room in your refrigerator, don't worry. This is a tip that I've used to quickly perk up my flowers for guests coming over, but it's not one I typically use.

I’d love to hear if you have any go-to tips and tricks to keep your hydrangea blooms looking beautiful for a long time!  I’m always up for new ones and trying out different things. These tips have consistently worked for me over the last year, so I can confidently share that they do work!  Let me know if you try out the tips or have suggestions for other things to try! 

Here’s to lots of pretty blooms in our homes, girls!