The downside of a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers is knowing that they won’t be around forever, but there are plenty of tricks out there to help you squeeze as much life out of your blooms as possible. One that might surprise you is that keeping the vase of fresh flowers directly next to fresh fruit is the worst thing you can do. That’s because, like fruit, plants and flowers see their ethylene levels increase as they age. In fact, it helps fruit ripen. So, while ethylene is useful when you’re waiting for a peach to ripen, it’s not so great for flowers because it speeds up their aging process, wilting leaves and petals and shortening their journey towards decay. Out of all the fruits, tomatoes, apples, bananas and pears give off more ethylene than others. Just make sure you locate your flowers far away from fruit, crush an aspirin and drop it into the water, and your fresh flowers should stick around a few days longer than normal.
