After a long winter here in the Okanagan spring is finally here! That means it’s time to spruce up your home and office space with some beautiful, freshly cut tulips. You may be thinking to yourself, why would a lavender farm write about how to care for tulips? While we do focus primarily on dried lavender and growing dried lavender for sale, here at McKinley Lavender Farm in Kelowna, we also recently started growing tulips. And what kind of growers would we be if we couldn’t tell you how to care for your tulips after they’ve been freshly snipped?!

Here are some steps on how to keep your tulips fresh once you bring them home:

Choose Wisely

Before we get into caring for your tulips, let’s first discuss picking them. It really comes down to what you want at the time. If you’re just looking for decoration for a gathering or dinner party, then choosing tulips that are fully open with vibrant pedals is the way to go. On the other hand, if you’re looking for prolonged vase life then choose tulip stems that haven’t fully opened yet, but still display an evident colour. It will take a few days for them to fully open, so you’ll be able to keep them going for a little longer.

Prepare your vase

Before we move onto the next step, you’ll want to make sure the vase you choose is cleaned properly. Make sure there are no remnants of previous plants left in the vase, and then wash the vase with soap and warm water.

Cutting the Stems

When cutting your tulips, make sure you cut them on an angle about ¼ inch from the bottom. This allows the fresh cut tulips to better soak up water when placed into your vase.

Water temperature

Believe it or not, the temperature of the water you pour into the vase actually makes a difference. Cold water is suggested as it keeps the stems fresh and crisp. Warm or hot water will cause the stems to get soggy and weaken them. Change the water as often as possible to keep your tulips happy and fresh. Remove any decaying stems immediately to preserve the stems that are still healthy.

Remove leaves from stem

If there are any leaves lower down on the stem that will be submerged in water, make sure to remove them. If left in the water the leaves may start to rotate, and this can cause the flowers to go limp prematurely.

Arranging the stems

When putting your tulips in the vase, make sure that the stems have some breathing room and aren’t bunched together. If the stems are squishing and crushing each other, this can cause the pedals to drop prematurely and the flowers to die out quicker.

Extend the lifespan

Tulips are a thirsty flower and will guzzle the water quite quickly, so make sure the water level never drops too low, or they will begin to wilt quicker than expected. You can also add some flower food to the vase, as it is proven to help extend the lifespan of your tulips. Lastly, make sure they are not placed in direct sunlight. Tulips are phototropic flowers, meaning they will not only gravitate towards sunlight but they also grow a bit more even after they’ve been cut! It’s advisable to turn your vase every day or so to help keep them “even” and prevent the super tulip droop.

Now you’re ready to enjoy your new beautiful tulip arrangement!

We have a limited quantity of fresh cut tulips available for sale from now until the end of May. Contact us if you’re searching for a fresh bunch! For more information on tulips or where to buy dried lavender for sale, or dried lavender bunches, contact us at McKinley Lavender Farm today!