Cut flowers will wilt and die pretty quickly if you don’t take care of them properly. If you follow these six steps, however, you should be able to keep them looking fresh and beautiful for much longer. 
 
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 As this video from the Reactions YouTube channel explains, a little basic chemistry can keep that bouquet looking like it’s straight out of the garden day after day. Here’s what you need to do: 
 
 Clean your vase: Some soap and water will remove any bacteria or fungi that might ruin your flowers. 
 
 Use warm water: It’s best to use water that is around 110 degrees Fahrenheit and has been degassed. Fill the clean vase with the warm water and let it sit for a few minutes so all the air bubbles can escape. 
 
 Feed your flowers: Add the packet of flower food that came with the flowers. It has bleach to fight off microbes, citric acid to promote water uptake, and sugar to keep your flowers looking fresh. 
 
 Cut the stems: Hold the stems under running water and cut them at a 45 degree angle. This creates a wide opening to the xylem (where the flowers drink up water) and keeps air bubbles to a minimum so they don’t block the water pathways. 
 
 Keep fruit away: Fruit produces ethylene, which tells a plant to ripen, and that will shorten the life span of your flowers. 
 
 Keep your flowers cool: Try to store your flowers somewhere that isn’t too warm. If you’re leaving the house for a day or two, stick your flowers in the fridge (away from fruit). The cold reduces microbial growth and the metabolic rate of your flowers, extending their life. 
 
 
 
 Flowers don’t last forever, but these tips will at least earn you a few extra days with them. 
 
 How to Make Flowers Last Longer | YouTube 

 Christina Stembel, CEO and founder Farmgirl Flowers, is not really a farm girl, and she admits she learned how to arrange flowers "from the university of YouTube." But her floral e-commerce company is seeing revenue grow by 300 percent year over year. 
 
 As an outsider, Stembel spotted problems with the $4 billion dollar floral e-commerce industry and decided she could do better. Her company's pitch focuses on its socially conscious business model, which strives for U.S.-sourced product and less waste. 
 
 When Stembel, who is now 38 years old, was director of Alumni Relations for Stanford University's law school, she planned events and was stunned at the cost of floral centerpieces. Since she'd always wanted to start a business, Stembel began researching the floral industry, discovering that four companies dominated the e-commerce gift category. 
 
 She also realized that since the 1990s, the industry has been outsourcing much of its flower supply to South America. As a result, three out of every four cut flowers sold in the U.S. are now grown outside of the U.S., according to Stembel.
– Monsanto may be out to conquer a new area of the plant world: commercial flowers. A post at MIT Technology Review explains that the company has applied for a patent on a technique that could make it dramatically easier to sell and ship flowers—by preventing them from wilting. The general idea is to interfere with the flowers' ability to make the odorless gas ethylene, which plays a role in the blooming and ripening process. Monsanto scientists think they can manipulate this by feeding the plants genetic molecules, thus raising the possibility of creating flowers that "bloom on command, or do other tricks," in the words of MIT. The implications are huge, given the huge global market for fresh flowers and the pricey logistics of getting them to market or into the hands of funeral homes, loved ones, etc. By some estimates, up to 90% of cut flowers currently sold in the US are imported, notes CNBC, with most coming from Colombia and Ecuador. If MIT's idea works—and consumers don't object to the RNA manipulation—it could reduce waste and "meet a real need in the flower industry,” says a plant researcher at the UK's Cardiff University. Until then, lifehacker has some ideas on how to make your fresh flowers last longer, including a 45-degree cut on the stems.