Gardening: Willow Crossley discusses 'reflexing' tulips
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Tulip flowers can often look droopy and small when they’re placed in vases for a long period of time. To transform them and make them look bigger, experts have shared a “trick”. In an episode in May, gardening expert Sarah Raven spoke to florist, author and designer Willow Crossley on her podcast, grow, cook, eat, arrange.
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Sarah and Willow shared a “good trick” for “transforming” tulips so they look “three times the size”.
The experts said this technique has been around for a “long time” and is known as “reflexing”.
The term “reflexing” is when a person peels back the petals of a flower gently to change their shape.
Flipping the petals outwards can make the flower look bigger and more voluminous.
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Reflexing can be done with both tulips and rose flowers.
They added: “A tulip – even if it’s like a lily flower variety like ballerina or something – you sort of manipulate them to open and then you almost bend the petals so it becomes like a huge saucer like it would when it’s almost shot.”
Lily-flowered tulips look different to other varieties of tulips because they have pointed petals.
These varieties also tend to have a thinner stem and are less sturdy.
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Willow said gardeners can “click” the petals “outwards” to manipulate them.
She said: “If you have really beautiful tulips – those big chunky varieties – I find they open so well and they don’t need any help.
“But if you can only get those little £3 bunches from Tesco or whatever it’s, they just transform into something completely different – a different species!”
The plant expert said the flower can look “three times the size”.
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When doing this with a vase of tulips, she suggested doing “half of them” to create different shapes.
Tulips can be planted in November and December and produce flowers from April and May.
They should be cut back in June and July.
Tulips are perennial plants but the most beautiful flowers are produced once a year.
Freshly cut tulips in vases need to have fresh water every few days.
Cooler conditions will also ensure the flowers last longer.
The bottom of the tulip stems should never not be covered with water.
Cut tulips can last for between seven to 10 days if they’re looked after properly.
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