Why do tulips keep growing in the vase?
Tulips can grow another inch or two after they are cut, and they bend toward the light. Here is what is going on, and how to keep them standing.
You put a neat bunch of tulips on the table in the morning, and by the evening half of them are leaning over the rim of the vase. Nothing is wrong with them. Tulips are one of the few cut flowers that keep growing after they leave the field, often by two or three centimetres, and the new growth turns toward the brightest light in the room.
The stem is still alive
A tulip stem stores water and sugar, and once it sits in a vase it carries on stretching. The bloom is heavy, so as the stem grows it starts to arc. Turn the vase a quarter every day and the stems will straighten up again as they follow the light.
Keep them away from fruit
Ripening fruit gives off ethylene, a gas that tells flowers to age. A fruit bowl next to the vase can cost your tulips two days. The same goes for a sunny windowsill or a radiator: the warmer the room, the faster they open and drop.
If your tulips droop on day one, they are thirsty, not tired. Recut the stems and give them a deep drink for an hour.
Looked after this way, a bunch from the morning market lasts seven to ten days, and the last few days, when the petals open wide and flat, are often the most beautiful.
