Buried in the deep, dark reaches of every families utility drawer is a pair of scissors that's used for everything - cutting open a bag of chips, slicing some string, snipping the ends of flowers before adding them to water. And that's exactly what Julie Haecker, co-owner of Grande Flowers, said is the reason those flowers typically die very prematurely. 

"Any time that something dirty is touching the bottom of the stem it's just going to be like a cesspool for bacteria," Haecker said. "So clean tools are always good."

Haecker has run Grande Flowers on Capitol Drive for eight years with her mom, Annette Drollinger. 

"Scissors are the worst thing you can use on flowers," she said. "It pinches the stem closed and makes it harder for them to draw up water. A knife is the world's greatest thing."

And she said this is the reason flowers like Hydrangeas and Tulips will get a bad rap from customers. They're just not cared for properly. 

"Tulips get such a bad rap because they sell them for like $3.99 a bunch," Haecker said. "But they're going to last you a day. But ours are $10.99 and ours will last at least a week. people are almost not buying tulips anymore because they get such a bad rap because they get them from the grocery store and they only last a day."

The life of a cut flower depends on everything from the preservatives they're treated with to how old the bulb is when it's planted, Haecker said. The other big reason Haecker said Tulips in particular will die quickly is if they're not kept in a cooler.

"That's going to shorten their lives. Sometimes a cooler will times five or even times 10 the life of a flower that's just sitting in room temperature," she said. 

For more plant care tips, check out Grande Flowers blog!