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Help your cut flowers last much longer than a day

To keep Valentine's Day flowers fresh, protect them from freezing temperatures in transit and place them in room-temperature water as soon as possible. With a sharp knife or pruners, remove a minimum of 1 inch from each stem with a cut on an angle to increase the surface area for water intake. Ideally, make this cut while the stem is under water.

Add floral preservative to the vase water — most preservatives contain an acid to neutralize alkaline tap water and an ingredient to discourage bacteria. Remove all foliage below water level so it does not rot.

Cut flowers prefer a cool, humid environment and should be kept out of bright light and away from heating vents. Do not place cut flowers close to a bowl of fruit or vegetables because the ethylene gas emitted by ripening fruit can damage the flowers.

• It is the season for cozying up to a crackling fireplace. Keep any logs you saved outside until you are ready to burn them in the fireplace, as insects can travel in with the firewood. Never treat firewood with insecticides.

• Keep monitoring your gardens for animal damage. When snow levels build up, rabbits can reach higher into shrubs to feed. Deer tracks in the snow are a reminder to go out and check plants.

Yews and arborvitae are favorites for deer to browse. Install garden netting as needed to protect your plants.

• The extreme cold temperatures this winter will most likely damage plants that are at the edge of or out of the region's hardiness range. Many gardeners like to push a plant's limits at times in order to have more unusual plants in their collection. There is nothing special to do now to help these plants.

The good snow cover during the coldest temperatures was a benefit in protecting herbaceous plants.

• Tim Johnson is director of horticulture at Chicago Botanic Garden, chicagobotanic.org.

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