Tulips are renowned for their elegance, but also for their frustrating tendency to flop dramatically over the vase edge. Now, a gardening instructor has put common remedies to the test and found a clear winner – and it takes just seconds to do.
Bethie, who runs the Instagram account @blueacregarden, conducted a trial using four vases of drooping tulips. She added vodka to one, coins to another, pierced a tiny hole in the stems of the third, and left the fourth as an untreated control. After exactly six days, the results were clear.
The vodka vase was the “biggest loser”, with flowers becoming “sad, saggy, and droopy” and stems losing all rigidity. The control group performed “slightly better” but still slumped over the edge. Coins helped retain some structure, but the pin method proved the “far and away winner”.
By making a small air hole just under the petals, any trapped air pockets in the stem can escape, allowing the tulip to absorb water properly. Bethie explained: “By putting one tiny air hole using a pin under the petals of your tulips, you can have tulips that stand up nice and tall and strong.”
She added that this simple technique “far and away outlasts any of the other most commonly recommended ways to keep your tulips tall and upright.” All blooms were given a fresh trim and placed in a bright location before the trial began.
