Do you love filling your home with beautiful fresh flowers but would like some options on longer-lasting blooms?
In this blog I am here to help you with some options for longer lasting flowers and share with you my top 3 favourites.
Fresh house flowers should be displayed in focal parts of the home such as on a large kitchen bench/island, an entrance credenza, the main living lounge room coffee table, or even the main bathroom – if you are having guests.
It’s tempting to place fresh flowers on busy dining tables, but I recommend avoiding placing them there because you don't want to have to constantly move the flowers to avoid risk of damage to all and sundry. If you have a household full of active kids, definitely avoid displaying fresh house flowers on the main dining table!
Depending on the size of your home, fresh flowers can be displayed in 3–5 focal areas. This makes it easy to plan when you are ordering or out shopping for your fresh house flowers. Try to always plan or think ahead about what flowers you want and where you would like them positioned before you go flower shopping or you might end up with random flowers that you didn't want or need. It can be a little bit like going to the supermarket to shop on an empty stomach!
My Top 3 Longer Lasting Flowers
1. Spinning Gum Eucalyptus
Spinning gum is locally grown and available all year round, so it's a really easy option for busy households. The scent is strong, native, and nonallergenic, so if you have sensitive people or pets in the home, this is a safe option. Spinning gum can be used in short or tall vases and is a great all-rounder. This beauty is also cheaper foliage, so its great for those wanting cost-effective, low-maintenance, and long-lasting greenery. This variety of gum will last 1–6 months or until you want a change!
2. Australian Banksias
This one’s a neutral, textural, and classy native! The Banksia's are grown throughout Australia, are an Australian native flower, and are available most of the year. This variety is a neutral colour, so you can display these with anything, and they will compliment the space. You can also display them in water (if you want to keep the colour thriving) or choose to dry them as this variety dries beautifully too. Banksias last for weeks in a vase of water.
3. Seasonal Foliage
Seasonal foliage such as camellia, magnolia, smokebush, and monstera leaves are great options for lush long-lasting foliage. These varieties are seasonal but strong, so you will enjoy these foliage for 2–5 weeks depending on care. Garden lovers may also have these in their garden, so you might like to forage from your own garden, making a large vase full of your garden foliage even more rewarding and cost-effective!
Longer-lasting flowers for your home such as Australian native banksias, native foliage. and seasonal foliage are great options for busy households and people who don't like fragrant flowers (such as lilies, gyp, daphne, and erlicheer) in their home. Sourcing locally grown banksias, native foliage, and seasonal greenery still have a slight 'green' herbivore scent, but it's not an offensive, irritant, or dangerous to pets.
Buying longer-lasting flowers such as banksias, protea, leucospermum (aka Pin Cusions), leucadendron, gum nuts, star gum, banksia pods, and native foliage such as eucalyptus can last up to 4 weeks. And you can then dry them out by taking them out of the water, hanging them upside down in a dry spot, and waiting a couple of weeks for the moisture to leave the flower.
I love sitting by a coffee table styled with my favourite books, magazines, a Kate Hill candle burning, and a long-lasting display of fresh tetra gum nut (as pictured here) which is loosely and naturally displayed in a clear glass 20cm ball vase (available for sale here online). You can use any kind of short-length gum for a coffee table display if tetra gum isn't in season or available. I also love star gum foliage on a coffee table as the eucalyptus scent hovers around the home.
For large vases and spaces, I love filling a tall or wide vase for a kitchen bench or island with 3–5 bunches of your favorite green foliage. This could be camelia (as pictured), magnolia (grandiflora or little gem or teddy are ideal), monstera leaves, or masses of spinning gum foliage if you would like a heavily scented, native, and wild look. In this image, we have displayed seasonal maple foliage. Displaying tall foliage gives a large space wow factor, and foliage can last up to 3 weeks depending on care.
The longest-lasting foliage varieties include camelia (as pictured), magnolia (grandiflora or little gem or teddy are ideal), monstera leaves, spinning gum, tetra gum, gum nut, star gum, and long leaf eucalyptus. Most Australian native foliage will last weeks, apart from wattle and flowering gum due to the soft and messy flower on it. Also avoid soft spring foliage and blossoms (cherry, apple, snowball, dogwood) as these won't last more than a week. Spring blossoms will also have a pungent scent and drop their flowers everywhere.
Foliage should last a minimum of 2 weeks and up to 4 weeks at best. Before displaying the foliage, you must thoroughly clean the vase, recut or bash the stems, and refresh the vase water every few days to maximize their lives. A little bit of preparation and care will go a long way!
I hope you have found this blog on longer-lasting foliage for home helpful. Please feel free to call our friendly team anytime to discuss options or to place an order for longer-lasting foliage for your home.
Kate x
