MAINTENANCE & CARE
Useful information about your faux
Little maintenance is required but to ensure that your Little Buds faux flowers remain fabulously fresh but we have a few tips for you. A cool blast of air (cold and slow setting on your hairdryer) will blow any settled dust away which we recommend doing once a month. It is worth knowing that white petals show up dust more so than other darker coloured flowers.
To keep your flowers looking gorgeous, we recommend avoiding prolonged exposure to direct sunlight or moisture as this can cause the colour to fade. Our ‘real touch’ petals such as our tulips and some of our roses require a little more attention especially for the lighter colored petals, please ensure these are not kept in direct sunlight as the colours will fade and change. Also, avoid positioning your flowers directly above a hot radiator or heat source as this could affect the integrity of the material.
DISPLAYING YOUR ARRANGEMENTS AND STEMS OUTSIDE
In order to withstand harsh UV rays and the outside elements a coating is put onto faux flowers designed for the outdoors. However, this coating gives off a unrealistic sheen which is why we do not use it on our blooms. Whilst you can bring your bouquet outside for a few hours, for a party for example, we don't recommend you leave it out much longer than this to preserve its lifespan.
CUTTING THE STEMS
All of our flowers have malleable wire stems running down the centre. The internal wire fitting is to enable flowers to be bent and moulded into the perfect arrangement position. If using a transparent vase we recommend cutting the stems rather than bending to ensure the right height for your vase. This can be easily done using wire cutters.
FLOWER PACKAGING:
We have two types of arrangement:
Our hand-tied bouquets arrive pre-arranged, jute-tied and wrapped in kraft paper.
Our 'letterbox bouquets' come beautifully wrapped in our signature Little Buds gift boxes.
Our stems are no more than 70cm. They’re easily bent, moulded, or trimmed with wire cutters or scissors to suit your vase.
Don't forget to check out our selection of gorgeous, hand-picked vases, sourced with our own faux arrangements in mind!
DISPLAYING YOUR STEMS
Some arrangements are designed to be front facing (180 degrees) with focal flowers positioned accordingly. 360 degree arrangements are designed for exposure all around such as displays positioned on a kitchen island.
The typical lifespan of artificial flowers is 5-10 years depending on their surroundings and care.
We recommend vases with a narrower neck to be the most well suited for artificial stems. This not only support the stems more securely but means you do not need a large number of stems to fill the vase. With our realistic looking stems, glass or transparent vases can be used, otherwise opaque vases are ideal for hiding leaves or bent stems. The material of your chosen vase is a personal preference.
TOP STYLING TIPS
With stems designed to bend, you may wish to display the flowers in an opaque vase so that they can be straightened out and used again in taller vases in the future. Bending the stems gives you the flexibility of using the stems again and again.
The stem just below the flower heads can also be bent into position or angled. This is particularly useful with larger heads such as hydrangeas, peonies and dahlias.
When trying to find the vase of the perfect height it is important to consider proportion. This can be personal preference: some people prefer flowers to stand 1.5 times the height of the vase, whilst others prefer 2.5 times. This depends on the overall size/shape of the vase (taller thinner vases vs smaller rounded vases) and also on the flowers themselves. As a good rule of thumb, we recommend the flowers should stand 1.5 times the height of the vase.
See our blog and Insta reels (links below) to help further. Any questions? Email us at hello@wearelittlebuds.com and we'd be happy to help.
BENEFITS OF FAUX
Faux florals come with many benefits including;
- Long lasting blooms without wilting, drooping or changing after a week - no slimy water either.
- Low maintenance, no need to change the water or feed them. Think of the money you'll save too!
- Out of season stems all year! Also brilliant for those favourites that are only available for short periods of time per year like peonies.
- Re-purpose and re-use. Flowers can be moved to different rooms and swapped in and out of displays.
- Hypoallergenic. This is particularly useful if you, your family or friends suffer from hay fever or other flower related allergies triggered by pollen or fragrances.
- An alternative to specific harmful toxic flowers and plants. You can be reassured that your furry friends and/or young children are safe.
RESPONSIBLY CREATING BEAUTIFUL BOUQUETS
Faux flowers are made from artificial materials, the manufacture of which entails an environmental impact and unfortunately this cannot be prevented. Yet faux flowers are significantly less harmful to humans and also the environment than fresh flowers. Here's why:
Fresh flowers use pesticides, artificial fertilisers and chilled transport which all cause damage to the environment. A little over a week later they disappear into the bin and then the cycle begins all over again. Not so faux!
Joining the Little Buds faux-volution can help in this. Our fabulous faux blooms will last for years and give you joy on the daily. It's a better solution if you want beautiful bouquets in your life every day of the year!
All this in a more responsible way; how nice is that!?