So your beau bought you the most beautiful bouquet of roses on Monday, but they died on Thursday. We’ve all been there and I assure you this isn’t an omen spelling the doom of your relationship, nor does it mean he’s being skimpy and buying cheap flowers. It just means you don’t know the secret to keeping flowers alive. Don’t fret, here’s what you need to do.

Cut the Flowers

It takes a good while for the bouquet to make it to your trendy mason jar after it’s been plucked from the dirt. During this time the stems have started to heal the wound by cauterizing where it was cut. This makes is hard for the flowers to absorb the water in the jar.

To get around this, make a fresh cut before you put the flowers in water. You don’t have to take a lot off, just a small trim will do the trick.

Crystal Clear

Clear containers are best for flowers because they fight off bacteria that harms flowers better than colored or opaque containers.

Hot and Cold

After you make the cut, put the flowers in hot (110°) water and place them in a cool part of the house. The hot water can travel up the stems faster than cold water, and the cool surrounding temperature helps the flowers retain the water. Do this for no longer than two hours and then add some room temp water so the flowers don’t fry.

Keep it Clean

Check the flowers daily and make sure there’s no petals or leaves floating in the water. Dead plant life in the water feeds harmful bacteria. You’ll also want to prune any wilting leaves that are still on the stem.

Change it Up

Dumping the old water and replacing it with fresh water everyday is best thing you can do to keep the flowers alive. While you have the flowers in your hand, give them another trim like you did on day one. Try cutting the stems at a 45° angle to increase the surface area.

Have a Drink

Adding a few drops of vodka has been known to increase the life of flower too. Not sure how well this works, but I’m sure there’s a great story behind how this method was first invented.