- Gardening
- Flowers
Some flowers start to shed petals after just a few days, but these long-lasting cut flowers will outlast the rest.
By
Andrea Beck
Andrea Beck
Andrea Beck served as garden editor at BHG and her work has appeared on Food & Wine, Martha Stewart, MyRecipes, and more.
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Updated on February 20, 2024
Reviewed by
Joseph Tychonievich
Reviewed byJoseph Tychonievich
Joseph Tychonievich is a gardening expert with two decades of work in horticulture, the author of three gardening books, and known for his deep knowledge of the science behind techniques for successful gardening.
Learn about BHG's Gardening Review Board
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It's happened to us all: You carefully sift through the grocery-store bouquets to find the freshest-looking bunch, or you snip a few flowers from your garden to display in a vase—yet a few days later, they're all drooping sadly and dropping petals like a four-year-old flower girl. There are ways to make cut flowers look pretty longer—hint: change out the water daily—but it's also an unfortunate reality that some types of flowers just won't stay upright and bright for more than a few days. If you're tired of the letdown of wilting arrangements, seek out these flowers that last.
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Chrysanthemums
This popular fall flower, commonly known as a mum, is a great choice for bouquets, since the blooms can last up to two weeks. In fact, if you have a few flowers outlasting the rest of your arrangement, there's a good chance they're mums. Chrysanthemums come in a variety of colors and petal shapes, including button mums (which are popular in fall gardens), anemone, quilled, spider, spoon, and pompon.
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Orchids
As a houseplant, orchid flowers can last for weeks or even months. They won't live quite as long as cut flowers, but most varieties will last for at least two weeks. If you want orchids with serious staying power, look for cymbidium varieties. These types of orchids offer the most enduring flowers, sometimes surviving for four weeks or more.
Carnations
Any bouquet you've picked up at the grocery store probably has at least one carnation, and it's almost always one of the last flowers standing. Carnations can last up to three weeks in a vase, as long as you keep them away from direct sunlight and heat and regularly refresh the water. They're also one of the most versatile flowers out there, easily dyed any color of the rainbow.
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Zinnias
If you want to grow flowers in your garden for cutting, prioritize zinnias, which can have purple, red, orange, white, pink, or yellow blossoms. They're a favorite amongst pollinators, including butterflies, and when you decide to snip a few stems to bring inside, they'll last up to 12 days in a vase.
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Alstroemerias
Also known as Peruvian lily, alstroemeria is another popular pick for bouquets. This lily look-alike grows several flowers per stem, helping create a full flower arrangement. Each individual flower usually lasts about a week, but since every stem has multiple blossoms, a cluster of alstroemerias can last for up to two weeks in a vase as all of the buds open up.
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Lilies
Similar to alstroemerias, one lily stem (especially Oriental lilies) can have multiple flowers that open at different times. If you're buying an arrangement with lilies, look for flowers that haven't quite opened yet. Once you arrange them in a vase, they'll slowly open up within a few days, lasting for up to two weeks.
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Alliums
You may not see alliums as often as some other cut flowers, but they're a great choice for a bouquet. They have long, stiff stems that won't flop over in a vase, and since they grow so tall (some varieties stretch up to 4 feet), they're easy to cut to any height you want.
Most will last up to two weeks in a vase as long as you regularly change the water. Also known as ornamental onions, these flowers' cut stems can smell a little like scallions, so if you leave them in the same water too long, you might start to notice the odor.
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