Beat the Heat: How to Care for Delivered Flowers in the Summer

Introduction

Summer is a time when our gardens are in full bloom with some of the most vibrant and vivacious summer flowers unfurling their petals. Many of these flowers - like sunflowers, marigolds and peonies - are symbols of prosperity, positive energy, and happiness. However, the heat of this season can leave these flowers feeling anything but happy. 

Heat stress in flowers during the summertime is common for both indoor and outdoor blooms, causing them to wilt prematurely, become damaged and sad looking, and die off quicker. 

Related Post: How to bring a plant back to life

That’s why having a summer flower care regime is crucial to prolonging flower life and getting the most from a flower delivery or our garden. This flower care guide is here to help you do just that, with tips on how to cool flowers, how to water flowers and how to best care for delivered flowers. 

The Unique Challenge of Summer Flower Care

There are particular difficulties for flower care in hot weather that we need to consider. Heat damage in plants and increased dehydration are significant issues we need to remember when tending to our gardens and caring for delivered flowers. Here’s why. 

The Effect of Heat on Flowers

Heat has several different effects on flowers and plants. When it comes to outdoor flower care, excessive heat can cause leaves on plants to shrivel, roll up and generally be sacrificed in order to save the flowers (i.e. the sexual organs).

Indoor flowers like a cut bouquet will wilt, exhibit drooping or shriveled petals and cloudy vase water in excessive heat.

Importance of Hydration

Caring for summer flowers is much like caring for ourselves in hot weather. Just as we need to drink more water to stay hydrated, flower hydration is equally important in summertime, as flowers and plants are likely to dry out faster and therefore require more watering. 

We need to water our plants more frequently and at optimum times of the day, as well as learn how to cool flowers down in a heatwave. Keep reading to find out how to ensure flower hydration with a foolproof flower care guide for watering.

Essential Tips for Summer Flower Care

Now we’ve identified some common issues with flower delivery care, let’s look at solutions.

Proper Watering

Knowing how to water flowers properly is essential to flower hydration and keeping flowers fresh, even in a heatwave. While outdoor flower care differs from indoor flower care, we’ll cover both in this section on how to water flowers to ensure all of your plants can thrive and you’re successfully prolonging flower life.

For outdoor flower care, the best time to water flowers is during the coolest parts of the day. This is either early morning or late in the evening, when the sun isn’t as strong and won’t evaporate the water from your plants as quickly. Watering in the evening also solves the problem of wondering how to cool your plants in summer. 

How often you water your garden or indoor plants in summer will depend. Generally, check the soil and water when the topsoil feels dry (usually this will mean watering several times a week). However, in heatwaves, you might need to check flower hydration daily.

Alternatively, you also need to be aware of signs of overwatering flowers. Look out for wilting, despite having plenty of water, leaves that are turning yellow or brown or are even falling off the plant prematurely. Any of these indicators are sure signs you’re overwatering flowers.

Related Post: How to water plants while away | TopFlowerDelivery.com

When it comes to caring for delivered flowers, proper watering is equally important. Heat escalates bacteria growth so for indoor flower care, ensure you are changing the water for delivered flowers regularly and cleaning your vase each time when you do so. Find out how to clean a vase properly here.

Cutting the ends off the stalks of your blooms with each water change is also important for keeping flowers fresh and caring for summer flowers as it ensures they can soak up the water properly.

Choosing the Right Location

Where you put your flowers indoors is also of tantamount importance. Consider factors like light and temperature when displaying a bouquet. Placing your flowers in the path of direct sunlight will greatly shorten their vase life so, to avoid heat stress in flowers, keep them in a cool spot that is out of direct sunlight. 

It’s equally important to place them out of the way of drafts and air-conditioners which can affect flower hydration as they cause water to evaporate faster.

Checking for Heat Damage

Finally, similar to our guide to watering and outdoor flower care, check for signs of heat damage in your flowers such as wilted or brittle petals, curled leaves, and loss of foliage. If you see this happening, remove the affected blooms from your arrangement and be sure to change your arrangement’s water and even its location if necessary.

Special Care Tips for Popular Summer Flowers

As we outlined in our guide to the 5 Best Summer Flowers, roses and sunflowers are amongst some of the best and most popular blooms of this season. 

Caring for Roses in the Summer

Caring for roses in summer is all about prevention over cure. There’s a few steps you can take for optimum summer flower care. These include pruning, feeding, watering, mulching, and watching out for disease and pests. 

For pruning, cut back your roses bushes after the first flowering, removing dead or spindly stems and any dead flowers. This will reinvigorate your rose bushes, prolonging life well into fall and encouraging leafy, new growth.

Related Post: How to Prune, Trim, and Care for Roses 

Afterwards, be sure to fertilize your plant with a well-balanced fertilizer to keep it nourished during the heat. Also be sure your roses are well-watered at all times. 

Finally, summertime can encourage disease and pests like aphids on your plants so keep a beady eye on your foliage for the first signs of infestation. To treat green bugs, we have this handy guide here.

If you follow this flower care guide, you will be sure to have the most beautiful roses to enjoy all summer long.  And for inspiration for your rose garden, here is the ultimate article for rose garden ideas!

If you want to enjoy roses in a cut bouquet rather than in your garden, consider ordering an arrangement from RoseFarmers - the experts in rose online delivery. 

Keeping Sunflowers Vibrant

Flower hydration is central to keeping sunflowers vibrant in summertime. This is true whether you’re seeking outdoor flower care for sunflowers or indoor flower care. In both instances, sunflowers love a deep, regular watering that encourages large, healthy blooms. 

For cut flowers, other sunflower care tips include removing any foliage that’s below the waterline of your vase to stop bacteria spreading, and to regularly cut the ends at an angle to increase water absorption. 

Now you know the secret sunflower care tips for the best display in your home, all that’s left to do is order some sunflowers! We recommend SendFlowers or FTD for affordable and sensational summer flower arrangements featuring this flower.

Conclusion

So, our main tips on summer flower care is to watch out for flower hydration, keep an eye on heat damage, and remain vigilant when it comes to pests and bacteria. It’s easy to care for flowers in summer once we stick to these main rules and treat our plants and flowers like we do ourselves! 

So, what are you waiting for? Treat yourself to a bouquet of bright summer blooms with Teleflora or celebrate summer occasions with a curated arrangement from ProFlowers!