Care of a Hydrangea Arrangement

Fresh Hydrangea Arrangements

• Whether you acquire hydrangeas for your arrangement from your landscaping or purchase them from a vendor, the key to keeping the hydrangeas in your bouquet fresh looking begins with properly cutting the stems. Hydrangeas have a woody stem and can have difficulty absorbing water. Cut your hydrangea flowers early in the morning; use a sharp knife and cut the stem at a 45- degree angle. Immediately place the cut stems in a container of water. Later when you bring your cut hydrangeas inside, prepare a container or vase with cool to cold water that has floral preservative added, then re-cut the stems at even a sharper angle and place your hydrangeas into the prepared water. This will allow more water to be absorbed and prevent your hydrangeas from wilting too soon. As an added step, particularly if you live in a warm to hot region, you may place your container of hydrangeas in a cool, dry, low light spot over night before making your arrangement.

  Once your arrangement is made and ready to be displayed, make sure it is not placed where it will be in direct sunlight, or near a fan. These are two environments that will shorten the life of your fresh hydrangea arrangement.

Dried Hydrangea Arrangments

• Using dried hydrangea blooms in floral arrangements is becoming increasingly popular, partly because of the durability of dried hydrangea blooms and their ability to retain color. In less humid regions, the blooms can be dried on the bush naturally, though the colors will be faded and not as bright. If you cut your hydrangea blooms in the early to mid blooming cycle, when the color is vivid, then either hang them upside down or set them in an empty vase to dry, the color will retain much of its original color.

  Once your hydrangea blooms have completely dried, you may use them in your floral arrangements. But, like all dried flower arrangements, over time the blooms become dusty. Although you could use a feather duster and lightly dust the blooms, because of the fragility of the individual petals, this is not always the ideal method to remove dust. A better solution is to use canned air, the same that is used to clean computer keyboards, and from a distance of at least 12 inches or more, carefully blow the dust off the hydrangeas.