We’re not so naive as to think cut dahlias will last forever, but we’re ready to do what it takes to keep them alive a little longer. In the interest of science, we bought a bouquet so we could test five additives people commonly put in water to try to make fresh flowers last longer.
Photography by Erin Boyle.
Fresh dahlias, straight from the florist.
We ran three sets of trials to try to get the most accurate results, to see if any additive made a cut flower last longer than a dahlia in plain water.
In each trial we tested sugar and vinegar, bleach, a copper penny, an aspirin tablet, and flower food, courtesy of the corner bodega.
We crushed the aspirin tablet before stirring it into water.
Marked and measured, I ran each trial for five days.
Do you have a tried-and-true method?
One additive we’ll likely avoid? In our first trial, the bleach and flower food seemed to have actively negative effects on the flowers, but two more trials didn’t prove the same.