Plants growing in the garden.

A few stems of Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate, that I just cut and stuffed into a vase of roses. They haven’t begun wilting yet, but I’m sure they will in just an hour or three. Lisa

How beautiful, Lisa! Sorry I have no information to help.

Could you try kissing it? Sorry, Lisa, I couldn't resist. But the pinks! So gorgeous in both Kiss Me and the roses, too. Love those colors. Sorry, but I have only dumb comments to offer. Diane

My advice would be to cut the stems as short as possible but still useful and when the flowers are still young. Place the cut stems in water immediately, while still in the garden.

I've grown Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate but never tried cutting the flowers. They may be like Oriental Poppies when used for cutting. You may need to sear the cut end of the stem with a flame/match.

Rhizo's advice would be a good choice, too. I always recut flowers for vases in a sink filled with some water. Place the cut end under the water level and recut. This prevents air bubbles from entering the stem/stems which result in the drooping.

Hope this helps,

Chris

Lisa,

Try this.

Cut them and put them (the cut ends), immediately in warm, to the touch, water. Bring them into the house. Have another container at hand and fill it all the way up with warm water at the same temperature as the first container.

Strip off the leaves that will be below the water level in your vase arrangement that they will be going into. Insert a stem at a time into the second container and make a fresh cut UNDERWATER, up from the first, outside cut, at least 1.5" or more up from the first, outside cut. It depends on how long you want the finished stem to be.

Stir the stem underwater a second or two immediately when cut, and keep that new cut stem's end underwater at least for 15 seconds. All cutting and waiting is done underwater (not you, the recut stem ends!).

Now return the newly cut stem to the container from outside, and proceed to the next stem, and the next stem, on and on.

When done with all the recuts, let the stems all sit in the water until the water returns to room temperature. The stems are now conditioned, and can be taken out of water and placed in your vase/arrangement.

They now can be out of water for as much time as it takes to move them, a few seconds, again and again, but not too long out of water, and should stay conditioned.

This should work to keep them from wilting away, but if it doesn't, I don't know of anything else to do.

Love Lies Bleeding is a tough garden grower, but can be wimpy and temperamental when cut.

Moses

Thank you very much! I have never seared the ends like I do with poppies, and other flowers that exude sap. I’ll have to try that. I can’t remember for certain if I’ve tried cutting the stems under water, but since I often do with blooms for special occasions, or giving away, I’m pretty sure I have done so before. The odd thing is, about 20% of the time, they remain upright and perky. Some wilt completely, while some only wilt partially. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. The stems I cut early this morning only wilted partially.

Even the leaves wilted

Every seed catalog description includes its use as a wonderful cut flower, so I know I must be missing something. I’m going to water them again tonight, and use a few different methods tomorrow morning. One of them will certainly be searing the ends. I’ll bring two water filled vases out with me, one filled with cool water, and one with very warm water,(Dahlia temp). Thanks for the help! I really love this flower, and would love to learn the “trick”. I’ll keep you posted. Lisa

Lisa,

It could be the wilting ones are not as mature as the non-wilters. Try to pick the older blooms and see what happens.

It's been a while, but the Love Lies Bleeding I grew got 6+' tall with tassels in blood red, about 1' long.

Moses

Mr. Moses, we crossposted on your previous comment, and I didn’t see your first comment until now. They’re all great ideas. I love using them in arrangements, so I’m going to do what it takes to figure this out. Now that I think about it, I often cut the younger blooms because they are brighter, and more tightly packed. I’ll see if that makes a difference, as well. Thanks SO very much! Lisa

Lisa,

I hope you find a successful solution, and that what I advised works in all cases, for both young and older flowers.

I will tell you that if you attempt to dry Love Lies Bleeding hanging on a line, upside down like you do most flowers for drying, you will see the tassels droop down, always responding to gravity's pull. You do not dry LLB upside down, but just the way it grows in the garden, upright. Even after drying, the tassels never seem to entirely stiffen, but like to point down, no matter how the stem is positioned in an arrangement.

Moses

It’s been a busy day, and I finally have a few minutes before I fall asleep to report on today’s results. First of all Mr. Moses, Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate is similar to, but not exactly like, Love Lies Bleeding. The flower tassels are only a few inches long, and made up of bright pink “beads”. My plants range in height from 2’ (seed that fell in lean gravel) to 6’( rich, well composted raised beds.)

This morning I brought out two tall pitchers of water, one filled with warm and one cool, tap temperature. I cut stems of mostly older blooms, but included some young stems, as well. Half went into the warm water, and half into the cool water. As Chris suggested, I seared the cut end of 4 stems, two with young blooms and two wth more mature blooms. I placed one of each of the seared stems into the two different containers. I tied a piece of twine around each of the 4 seared stems, just in case I might mix them up.

I recut all the stems,(not the seared ones), save two, under water the same temperature that they had just come from. i returned them to their original containers. Then my day got crazy, and I didn’t look at them until late.

The most obvious thing is that the older, more mature blooms are holding up the best, across the board! I’m definitely going to have to add a few finishing details about this, later. I’ve fallen asleep several times while writing this, for at least an hour each time. For all I know, I’m not even making sense anymore, so I better stop:). Thanks for the help. I’ll post a picture tomorrow,(today?)

I NEVER would have thought that OLDER blooms would hold up better than younger ones. Who knew? Oh ya, Mr. Moses! Lisa

Lisa,

Thanks for the clarification. I did not know 'Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate,' and 'Love Lies Bleeding,' are two different plants. I thought the plant type I mentioned with long full tassels and the one in the pictures you posted were one and the same plant. I only ever grew the long tasseled one I know as 'LLB', and that 'KMOTGG,' was an alternate name for it.

I figured incorrectly, that the form that your plants shown in your photos were how LLB grows in California with warmer temps and sunnier skys than here in PA where it is a cooler, gloomier sky environment.

I hope your experiments result in a good solution, carry on Dr. Lisa!

Moses

Well, that was interesting. This evening, I made a small arrangement using the KMOTGG. Although more of the stems where usable than not, some were totally wilted. Some were from the warm water container, while others came from the cool water container. One of the worst wilted stems had been seared. Some looked as if they’d not been put in water at all, after cutting.

I learned that if I’m going to use the KMOTGG for cutting, I should cut more than I will need, and condition them well ahead of time. That way I can discard the “wilters” before they ruin an arrangement.

Here’s some of the keepers.

I used them with roses and other things that were in bloom today.

Thanks for helping! Lisa

Absolutely beautiful, Lisa, both roses, dahlias, and Kiss Me. I think it was worth the trouble. The colors of all are gorgeous. Diane

Thanks, Diane! (That’s Love Song, btw.) I still don’t really know why some stems wither and some don’t, but there was definitely less of that with the preconditioning and cutting the stems under water. The unfortunate thing is, it took a whole day for some of of the stems to wilt while waiting to be arranged. I’m a “spur of the moment” kind of person, so I often throw together a bouquet just before bringing it over to someone. I really can’t use the KMOTGG for that sort of thing. I can’t tell you how many times it has ruined the look of a bouquet before I’ve even finished my visit. Every seed catalog claims it’s a great cut flower. Oh well, not the end of the world, but I bet a florist would know exactly how to handle them. They are pretty, and I’m sure I’ll be getting years of practice, the way they reseed. Lisa

Lisa, could you try researching the problem using Google searches of topics like "garden flowers that droop when cut for bouquets" or "drooping cuttings of kiss me....", or "how to strengthen the stems of cut flowers"? Diane

Ha! Great minds think alike, Diane! I was doing just that when I heard the chime that another comment had come in. So far, I’m not finding anything specific for drooping Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate, but one site suggests wrapping “droppers” in a roll of newspaper and then letting them stand in water in the refrigerator. That makes sense, but it’s not a “spur of the moment” fix. Nothing mentions this problem anywhere, so I keep feeling like it’s “just me”, or that I’m missing something. It’s a very old fashioned flower. Thomas Jefferson first grew it in the US. Surely not everyone had this issue!?!? Thanks, Lisa:)

I don't know if it has already been mentioned, and I am certainly no expert on this, but I seem to recall from somewhere that when you make a cut on a stem that it should be on a slant. The more slanted the cut, the better, to expose more live internal tissue in the open "wound" to absorb water.

Also, the cutting device should hopefully be surgically sharp, so as to leave as many cells as possible intact at the cut surface. Also, for long time freshness, just plain water in the vase "is not good enough". There are commercial preparations available to dissolve in the vase water. I am unfamiliar with the "searing the cut" thing -- perhaps Rhizo could comment on that.

ZM

Lisa,

Have you tried cutting them in the early morning before the sun hits them? It has to be a moisture issue. When the stems are at their most hydrated state would be an ideal time to cut them, don't you think? Perhaps your intended plants from which you will take flowers should be watered the evening before the following morning harvest?

Moses

This is a link to GROWING SPECIALTY CUT FLOWERS IN NEW ENGLAND by Nancy Stedman

https://newenglandvfc.org/sites/newenglandvfc.org/files/content/proceedings2011/growing-stedman.pdf

Under KMOTGG she briefly mentions " We wait till the flowers mature before cutting so they don’t wilt". Specific, but unclear to me as I'm not sure what the mature flowers look like. There is an email so if you haven’t found any other info yet, maybe you can try that. I don’t see any date listed on the info.

She also mentions Lisianthus (which I know you love), Dahlias and Snapdragons.

I was very intrigued by this post of this polygonum! It sounded like a great plant to add to my garden because of its size - 6'h x 5'w until I read the USDA report on it! It is considered a weedy, invasive species that self seeds prolifically. It is only an annual and doesn't bloom until Aug/Sept but produces seeds in Oct/Nov just when the birds will be looking for food and spread it everywhere! Even in this zone I can see those seeds would survive the winter intact. I'll just admire the pictures!

Whether Polygonum orientale is invasive or not is dependent on the geographical area you're in. Are you in the SE USA? If not you shouldn't have a problem.

I’m in So California. It has selfsown but they are easily pulled out, and I have left about 10 standing.

Thank you everyone for your help. Mary, you found the first reference to anyone having a problem with them wilting! I’m thrilled that you found it! Thank you SO much! Ironically, this was also what Mr. Moses suggested when he thought it was the same plant as Love- Lies-Bleeding. Apparently they both behave the same when cut young. I did send Nancy, at Little River Farm, an email, asking for more details. We’ll see if I get a response, but even that bit of info tells me what was going on. I just KNEW it had to be something! I had already been watering them the night before, cutting them early in the morning, cutting them under water on a slant, and using a sharp blade. Thanks again everyone! Lisa

Lisa - This is how I successfully condition flowers and thought this may work for Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate. Cut in the morning and place immediately into a container of tepid water. Remove leaves, recut and place stems into an inch or two of boiling water in a small container, taking care to protect the blooms from steam, for 30 seconds or so. Place the flowers in deep water in a cool, dark, draft free spot to condition for several hours or overnight.

I have found that young, new growth does not condition well.

Thanks, Summers! I did receive a short email from the flower farm that Mary posted a link to above. She simply said that the blooms needed to be VERY mature when cut, and to condition them in very warm water. So far, this seems to be working. The major factor seems to be that the blooms are fully mature.

Mine are finished for the year, but I know I’ll have plenty more next year. I’ll try your method when I have them blooming again. They DO reseed easily. Thanks Summers! Lisa