Sugar solution extends the life of cut flowers.

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday

Pulsing for roses is done by immersing the stem ends for one to 

three hours in 10% sugar solution. Photo credit Wikipedia

Don't cut the flowers, if you can help it. Have potted flowering plants instead. To ensure continuous flowering give your plants proper care under suitable condition. Orchid painting in acrylic shows how delicate orchid flowers are. Don't detach the flowers from the plant. Display as a whole plant undisturbed. After the occasion, take it back to its original plant for recovery. 

In horticulture, they call this pulsing, a technique of providing nourishment and extending the shelf life of cut flowers. This technique lengthens vase life twice as much. It allows buds to open and postpones stem collapse, while it enhances freshness of the opened flowers.

Pulsing for roses is done by immersing the stem ends for one to three hours in 10% sugar solution, and for gladiolus 12 to 24 hours in 20% sugar solution. Daisies, carnation, chrysanthemums, and the like are better handled if harvested and transported in their immature stage, then opened by pulsing. It is best to cut the stem at an angle, dipped 6 to 12 hours in 10% sugar solution compounded with 200 ppm of 8-hydroxyquinoline sulfate, 100 ppm citric acid. Best results are obtained at cool temperature and low relative humidity.