I think it is no secret I love flowers.  I enjoy growing them, I certainly appreciate receiving them, and more often than I should on my way home from work I'll swing by the floral department in the grocery store and pick up a bunch or 2.  Kroger has some shockingly good deals on flowers and I just can't pass those up.

My last trip I saw the loveliest bunch of white hydrangeas and I could not pass them up.  Now I know hydrangeas require a little extra care.  I usually take a few steps up front to keep them fresh.

1.  When I cut hydrangeas as home I will dip their stems in Alum to help keep them fresh.  I have found this to be quite easy.

OR

2.  I will dip their stems into boiling water for about 60 seconds to help the water flow up the stem.

Generally I have found the thinner stemmed hydrangeas that I cut from my own yard does not have much of the sap in their stems and my tips above work just fine.  But, with my Kroger bunch I cut of maybe 3" of the stem, and dipped in alum and popped them in a vase.  Next day the flowers had wilted.  I took to the internet to try a new technique to revive them.  They were sad, just take a look at 'em. 

1.   I cut off another 1" of stem.

2.   I boiled water and put it into a glass.

3.   Cut a hole in a paper towel to put the flower through to protect it from the steam.  

4.   I put the flower in the water and let it sit for 2-3 hours.  At the end the hydrangea was good as new!