I've always 'smashed open' the bottoms about 1/2" of all woody stemmed flowers to expose more interior surface/ drinking space. Forget where I read this but it's become habit now. I pretty much only ever keep hydrangea in the house.

As mentioned in the article linked above (sounded like a good article - my mom used many of those article tips when she worked at a florist) I always try to pick my hydrangea first thing in the AM. Stay away from any bloom heads that have florets where the edge has a 'papery' quality, are pale or dusty colored in appearance (like they get when they start to dry out) or are slightly curled out.

We have three large bushes on our property. Two in a front bed are pink, but the bush out by our pool area produces blue/purple blooms.

I start cutting my hydrangeas to bring inside for D/R table as soon as there are enough blooms to fill my favorite crystal vase. I usually cut in the a.m., but have cut in the evening. Also, I cut the stems on an angle and immediately put into a water container that I take outside with me when I am going to cut.

Have always changed the water in the vase every day, but use cool/cold water. I trim the stems by about a quarter of an inch every other day or so, putting them back into the water right away. The bunch on my DR table at the moment are about a week old and still look really good.

Also, I think that the room temperature plays a big part in why mine last as long as they do. I keep the DR no higher than 75 degrees.

Last year DD chose a very pretty blue print dress for her senior prom. DD was voted "best dressed" for senior yearbook. I suggested getting something a bit out of the ordinary rather than the standard solid color prom dresses. I wondered what type of flowers her date would bring as there are few blue flowers that grow in nature. I HATE sprayed flowers. Bless his DM, when DD's date arrived, he had the most lovely bouquet. One large whitish blue hydrangea with a white rose, a bit of baby's breath with some bluish/purple wildflower-looking blooms. Oh, I so wanted to kiss his DM for chosing such a beautiful bouquet for my DD. It would have been much easier (and probably a whole lot less $$) for her to have something sprayed blue. Here's a pic from pre-prom, the best pic showing DD's bouquet:

dlm - thanks for the link. Lots of good tips. I am going to try the boiling water idea next time I cut a bunch.

Believe it or not my dad of all people told me about boiling water! He delivered for the florists and took notice that they did that when preparing flowers for arrangements.

Here is a link that might be useful: Conditioning various types of stems

I only work with Annabelles and paniculata types like Peegee. I have heard that the lacecaps don't have a long vase life, but since I can't grow them in my zone it isn't a problem.

What I do ( and I haven't had a problem with wilting) is to harvest the stems in the morning. Make your cut where the stem is woody. And then cut vertically up the stem an inch or two. I don't smash the stems.

I strip all the leaves except the ones up by the flower, and then place the stem in cool water. I use flower conditioner and if you have any, mix it up and use it. And then put the bucket somewhere cool and leave the stems to condition for a few hours before you use them to arrange your bouquet.

Good luck with your arrangements. I'm sure they will be lovely!

wip, what a striking outfit, she's so pretty !!

I also just read where someone says that after cutting put the heads in water for 1-2min. I'm going to try that today w/ some.

No smashing now - just vertical cut. Thanks!

Thank you all so much for your help and tips. I have the hydrangeas conditioning now in a bucket. Heading over to Costco for the roses once it opens. Will post pics of the arrangements once I'm done. Keeping fingers crossed this works, and I don't wake up to wilted hydrangeas in the morning. BTW, in OP I said sister's shower, I meant sister in law, it is my brother's fiance. I don't know her family very well. But future SIL told her mom how I make all my own arrangements for all my parties, and her mom called me and asked if I could do centerpieces for her shower. If it were my own sister I wouldn't be so nervous about this.

I tried letting the hydrangea heads soak a few minutes in room temp water and it's been great! It's been a few days (each morning I soak them again) and the hydrangea heads still feel firm. The colors are aging but the heads still feel fresh and firm.

These hydrangeas aren't mopheads like in the video. They are green, and very thin, more like an Annabelle. Should I soak them too? I should have tested this out first. Why do I always wait till the last minute for everything??? Shower is tomorrow.....gulp!

Sorry if this posts twice. DD turned the computer off while I was typing.

I just watched the video. So your stems are green and not woody like in the video? That's okay. The Nikkos that I cut Thursday are the same way. They had thinner green stems - I didn't cut any woody ones. I soaked the heads Thursday and have done so each morning trimming a bit off the stem ends before putting them back in fresh water.

I just watched the video (those heads are HUGE!) and saw that one of the schools of thought wassmashing woody stems. Since that worked for me in the past I will continue to do so on any woody stemmed plant (I thought maybe I was doing something wrong!).

The solution with shite vinegar, sugar, detergent, and mouthwash the lady made in the youtube video; do you all think that will work for roses too? Should I use it in the vases for the arrangements?

The stems were woody further down but greener toward the bloom. The blooms themselves are green. I guess like a limelight hydrangea.

Here is a video on hydrangeas care and handling from the Floral Design Institute:

floral design institute

Thank you everyone!!!!
The tips worked!!! It is the morning of the shower, the centerpieces are assembled, and the hydrangeas are beautiful!! (Letting out sigh of relief here)
Now, I have to get them there- there are 13 of them. Wish me luck.

And here is one of the arrangements. Don't mind my vinyl tablecloth, needed to protect my table:

I was very happy to see your finished arrangements this morning. Very pretty indeed! Hope you had a wonderful time!

ALUM! Watched a video from famous flower arranger and he dips them in ALUM in water first. You can find it in spice isle. I've used it for pickling cucumbers before to stiffen them up.