Last week for my birthday, a sweet angel of a friend gave me a beautiful bouquet of the greenest hydrangea blooms. I arranged them in a blue glass vase with forsythia stems from the garden. I have had them now for over a week but have had to revive some of the stems 3 different times! Gradually the flowers have faded from brilliant green to a soft greenish white.
I adore hydrangea! All the colors are so beautiful from the palest pink to the deepest purple with all the blue shades, the white and green ones in between. When I moved from a home with many established varieties, one of the first things I did was to plant some here. A couple of bushes are struggling to grow very big, but they still bloom enough that I can have pretty vases for a few of the summer months.
As much as I love them, hydrangea, do have one distinct problem: the cut flowers can wilt even though they have adequate water in the vase. I used to pick out the wilted flowers and toss them out. Then a friend told me of a way to revive them!
This method surprised me because it seems counterintuitive, however, it seems to shock the wilted blooms and jolt them into new life!
First cut the stems. I do it at an angle so that a little more surface area is exposed.
Place the cut stems into a heatproof container. I use a mixing bowl.
Boil 3-4 cups of water.
Add the water to the mixing bowl so that the ends of the stalks are in the hot water. Leave them to steep for 2-3 hours.
When you come back, Voila! Most of the time you will see revived flowers!
The ends of the stems that were in the hot water do turn brown, but hey, who cares?
I can usually do this more than one time, and each time the flowers look pretty for a more few days. When I put them back in the vase, I add fresh water with a few ice cubes. I honestly have no proof that the ice helps, but it can't hurt!
HOW TO REVIVE WILTED CUT HYDRANGEA BLOOMS
DIRECTIONS
Put on a kettle of water to boil.
Find a suitable heatproof bowl that will temporarily hold the flowers. I use a mixing bowl.
Trim off the ends of the stalks at an angle and place the flowers in the heatproof bowl. I place the bowl against the wall so that the top heavy blooms have something to stop them from flipping out.
Pour boiling water over the cut ends of the stems. Make sure all stems are submerged but only for 2-3 inches.
Allow to steep for a couple of hours. Most of the time, this will revive them, and you will be successful for a couple of times, maybe more. After that, you may just be pushing it too far!
Rearrange in original vase with fresh cold water and a few ice cubes.
Enjoy your flowers with new life breathed back into them for the second time. Or the third time. [Or the fourth time in this case!]
I hope you love this way to revive your gorgeous flowers as much as I do!
Disclaimer: This method works for me most times that I attempt it, and usually more than one time. You should experiment and see if you can breathe new life into your hydrangeas too.
