Dahlia, a favorite of many folks, sadly has a short life as a cut flower (technically it’s a tuber). But man, the three to four days it’s in bloom in a vase are some of the brightest days your desk, kitchen table or porch will ever have.

When you purchase a bouquet and know you won’t be directly getting them in water (because you’re making the time to grab a $3 Chatt Brew market draft in the beer garden, and that’s okay) then take the offer of water if Southerly Flower Farms offers it. Or if you know you’re going to purchase a bouquet, bring a small reusable container with water to have them rest in your cup holder until their final destination.

For more instructions on how to care for your dahlias after you leave the market, reference this handy website and learn things like dahlias last longer when heavy blooms have other flowers to rest on.

Along with the information at the link, the best thing for dahlias that I have found is really the most simple thing. Keep the water clean. This means cleaning the vase before putting your stems in, adding clean water, and every day or two change out your water and recut your stems with sharp clippers at an angle.

If you want to do a little more, take your mister meant for your house plants and mist the dahlia petals each day. Or any kind of spray bottle with water works. This is the only flower I would recommend this method for because other flowers may spot after spraying. Dahlias have a hard time pulling water up from those large stems sometimes and it starts to show through dried out petals starting at the back and working its way to the center of the flower head. So giving those petals a spray, especially in the back, will help with that problem.

Lastly, if you are hoping to keep dahlias for a special occasion, storying them in a cool, dark spot of your home or even in the refrigerator will help with that goal. Just make sure your fridge doesn’t freeze or keep the flowers away from the freezer input area of the fridge.