I never thought I’d be the kind of person who enjoys taking care of flowers. In fact, I used to hate it. The idea of being gifted a plant or a bouquet made me feel more anxious than happy. What if I watered it too much? Or not enough? Was it getting enough sunlight? Should I move it? Should I change the soil? I overthought everything, and the worst part? The uncertainty was stressful. With plants, you often don’t know if you’re doing something wrong until it’s too late. When the leaves start drooping or the petals begin to brown, there’s often no going back and that feeling of helplessness used to really get to me.

Taking My First Step

But one day, I decided to buy my first bouquet of fresh flowers. It was a small but brave step for me. I hoped taking care of flowers could become a relaxing and enjoyable hobby.

Researching Homemade Flower Food

Before buying the flowers, I started researching homemade flower food online. That’s when I went into research mode.

The amount of information was overwhelming at first. There were many different recipes and measurements! But eventually, I understood the basics. Homemade flower food mainly needs three things:

• Sugar: to feed the flower
• Acidifier (like vinegar or lemon juice): to lower the water’s pH, helping the stem absorb more water and slowing bacterial growth
• Biocide (like bleach): to prevent bacteria and mold from clogging the stem

Gathering Ingredients

At home, I was missing a few key ingredients: no vinegar in the cupboard at that time, and bleach was surprisingly hard to find in Helsinki (turns out Tokmanni has it, after a few failed supermarket runs!).

Despite this, I bought a simple bouquet at my local supermarket, which luckily included some flower food. I also picked up a bottle of ready-made flower food just in case.

Observing the Wilted Rose

The bouquet included a beautiful rose. I didn’t know then, but roses are very thirsty flowers, much like sunflowers.

After about a week of using store-bought flower food and changing the water every two days, I noticed the rose was wilting faster than the other flowers. It looked sad and droopy. Clearly, the store-bought food wasn’t enough, so I decided to try making my own flower food.

Reviving the Rose

I separated the rose and used only sugar and vinegar since I didn’t have bleach yet. Within just 24 hours, the rose looked better. Its petals stood up straighter, and it seemed healthier. By 48 hours, it looked completely fresh and alive again. I couldn’t believe it. I had saved the rose!

My Flower-Care Journey Continues

Now, I have all the ingredients I need at home to make flower food anytime I want. For someone who used to fear taking care of plants, saving that rose was a personal huge achievement. Maybe I’m not so bad at flower care after all.

And two weeks after buying my first bouquet, I’ve now brought home another beautiful bouquet. This time, filled entirely with cheerful yellow roses!