Receiving a bunch of flowers is always lovely, but some of us are better at arranging them than others.

If your idea of a flower arrangement involves filling up a vase with water and bunging them in, then you could be doing your blooms a disservice – with just a few simple steps, you can not only make them look better, but also last longer.

Here are 4 easy flower-arranging tips everyone should know…

1. Make sure your vases are clean 

We’re talking really clean. Vases can often harbour bacteria from previous bouquets, and these are not good for your new flowers.

MORE: 32 ALTERNATIVE FLOWER-ARRANGING IDEAS

The best way to clean vases is to use bleach, diluted with water, which will effectively kill bacteria.

Crucially, once thoroughly rinsed, this won’t be harmful to flowers – an insider tells us that all florists bleach their vases, and they would know!

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2. Always cut your flowers 

Sorry if you prefer to just chuck flowers in a vase, but if you want them to last, they need to be able to drink water.

Unfortunately, the ends of the stalks effectively ‘seal up’ when they’re out of water, so unless you cut them, they won’t suck up any liquid.

A simple diagonal cut on each stalk is the best way to ensure a larger surface area for taking in water.

MORE: 8 STUNNING EASTER CENTREPIECES

3. Shorter flowers will last longer 

This surprising fact makes perfect sense when you think about it – a shorter stalk means less distance for the water to travel to the flower, which means they’ll last longer.

So, if you’ve got a gorgeous bunch of flowers, you could consider cutting them down to fit a shorter vase, or even creating an arrangement using oasis (a kind of water-absorbent block you can stick flowers in) which means the stalks can be much shorter.

4. Put bigger flowers in the centre 

Have you ever popped your flowers in a vase and thought they just looked a bit…weird?

Often this is due to thin, spindly flowers being placed in the middle and chunkier flowers on the outside.

Instead, you should focus on having bigger blooms towards the centre of the arrangement, and then put thinner flowers or those that have not yet bloomed around the outside – this will make the arrangement look more natural and pretty.