After purchase, ideally flowers need to be kept in water all the time, but they can be left for a couple of hours providing they are kept cool. If they do make a long journey, they should be placed in a bucket of water, but if that is not feasible, then wrapping the stem ends in damp paper will help reduce water loss.Once home, give the flowers a long drink in deep, tepid water after removing the lower foliage and trimming an inch from the bottom of the stems by making long, clean, diagonal cut with a sharp knife. This provides the maximum surface area for water intake. Stems should never ever be mashed – even the woodiest ones. Extensive research has proved that crushing the stem destroys the delicate structure of the stalk, making it less efficient at taking up water and encouraging bacterial infection.