The Factors That Cause Flower Buds To Open

Whenever growing flowers in your garden, you want to do anything and everything possible to make sure that your flower buds all open.  What’s the point of having flowering plants if the buds remain tightly shut?  Also, when you pick or purchase flowers from your florist, many people adivse you to select partially opened flower buds as opposed to fully opened flowers or those still tightly closed.  It is important to know the reasons behind such advice so that you can make the right choices the next time you grow, buy or send flowers.

Firstly, you need to understand that plants use their flowers as a means of reproduction.  With the help of various factors such as wind and insects, plants are able to spread their seeds and multiply.  This is an essential part of any plant’s life.  We all know how much bees love the sweet nectar of many different flowers but, before you stepped on that poor tiny ant, did you ever give a thought to his valuable contribution?  There are some flowers that depend on them in order to bloom.  Peonies are an example of this.  Their flower remain tightly shut until the ants make their way inside the flower.  Once they gain access to the flower, it begins to open and bloom.  So, without those tiny creatures, flowers like the peony would not open up to the world.

Just like we all need food and water in order to survive, the same can be said for plants.  The only difference is that plants have their seasons.  The remain dormant for a period of time and only start to bloom when the time is right.  This right time is determined by a number of factors such as weather and soil conditions.  Many gardeners prefer not to leave this up to nature and, instead, they help their flowers along by providing them with the right kind of fertilizers in order to encourage them to grow and bloom.  In the case of cut flowers, flower food is added to the water to provide nutrients for the flowers as well as to slow down the growth of bacteria.

Through a process known as photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon dioxide in the air, water and nutrients from the soil and, using the energy of the sun, it is all used to create food for the plant and to help the flowers bloom.  If any of these were missing, the process will not be able to take place and the flowers will not bloom.  Now, keeping this in mind, if you pick flowers while the buds are still tightly closed and you place them in a vase with floral food and all they could possibly need, there is still a very real chance that they might not open.  This is because cut flowers are to be displayed out of the sun.  Without the sunlight, photosynthesis will not occur and you may very well be left with a bunch of buds instead of flowers.