The Truth about Keeping Cut Tulips
It is tulip season! Of course we haven't seen them poke their heads up from the cold, frozen earth yet, but hot house tulips and Dutch tulips are now available. Yay! There is a lot of misinformation out there regarding tulips and their care. I am here to set you straight.Home remedies abound for keeping cut tulips fresh longer in the vase. Add pennies, they say, or aspirin, bleach or a dilution of 7-UP! This is all really false information and based on old "wives tales". The Dutch experts say that the best thing for tulips is clean, fresh cold water in a clean bacteria free vase. Are you really going to argue with the Dutch about tulips? Think of all the bacteria and grime on a penny....would you put that in your mouth? No, I didn't think so. Tulips don't want pennies where they drink either. Sure, you may have seen some instant perking up of your tulips with the addition of these remedies but in the long run and for the longevity of your cut tulips it is detrimental. Science has proven it. It's true.
Did you know tulips keep growing after they have been cut? That tulips take water in from their whole stem? So only give them a little cold, fresh water at the bottom of their vase and re-cut their stems every few days to help prevent them from drooping; eventually, nothing will stop tulips from drooping as they get older. Tulips do not like preservative solution (those little packets of powder you get from the flower shop). They are one of the few flower types that do not.
There! Now you know the real truth about keeping cut tulips. Please go fish those pennies out of your tulip vases.....and save them instead for a worthy charitable organization, or more cut fresh tulips :)
