She Loves Me works predominantly with local flower farms, which often means that your flowers have been harvested within hours of you receiving them.

Sourcing locally -- and circumventing a lengthy supply chain -- is one way to ensure your flowers stay fresh for as long as possible. But there are other tricks you can use to keep your flowers looking perky longer.

You may have heard that putting a penny or aspirin or sugar in your flower water makes them last longer. We’re here to tell you that these methods aren’t proven to work, and can in fact cause more damage to your flowers!

Sugar, for example, is highly detrimental to the health of your bouquet as it promotes the growth of bacteria in the flower stems. And while pennies and aspirin might be harmless, here are some proven tricks used by florists (Shh! Don’t tell them we told you...):

1. Thoroughly clean out your vessel with hot water and soap, making sure to get rid of any debris. Floaties in your water are magnets for bacterial growth, which is what we’re trying to avoid. Rinse the container with white vinegar or bleach, and leave a drop or two of bleach in the water to help kill bacteria.

2. Trim your stems at a 45-degree angle; this creates a larger surface area for the flower to drink water while also ensuring the cut edge doesn’t sit flush against the bottom of your vessel (which prevents the flower from being able to get a drink!).

3. Hydrate your flowers with flower food and cool water. Hot water encourages the flowers to mature and die faster. On the flip side, you can use warm water to try to force flowers to open if you’ve got unopened buds right before an event.

4. Keep your flowers away from direct sunlight or heat, and move them to a cooler spot when possible. For special events, we always recommend flowers stay in a cool, dark place (such as the fridge or a cold garage) up until the moment they’re needed.

5. Refresh the water daily, and give your stems a trim every other day.

Remove any flowers that start to wilt and hang them upside down to keep the stalks straight until they’ve dried completely—Now you’ve got a dried bouquet you can keep forever!

If you love dried flowers, check out our stunning Dried Arrangements, available here for pickup or delivery.