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Wondering what method keeps your Valentine's flowers lasting longer? One guy tried them all.

Some definitely worked better than others.

Representative image from Canva

Because who doesn't want to preserve the natural beauty of a bouquet for as long as possible?

With Valentine’s having just passed, many of us might be looking at beautiful bouquets bestowed by our sweethearts and wondering how to keep them fresh for as long as possible (the flowers, that is, but maybe your beau as well).

If the thought of experimenting with a ton of home remedies found online sounds exhausting, you’re in luck! Someone decided to test a whole handful of them to see which worked best for perfectly preserved petals.

In a 7-minute clip posted to TikTok, life-hack enthusiast and former circus clown “The Gooch” made his own little science project using multiple roses placed in vases of water, each with a different variable: a blend of sugar and bleach, Red Bull, pennies, popcorn kernels, 7 Up, alkaline batteries, denture tablets, aspirin and, naturally, the florist-provided flower food packet, which itself contains some kind of sugar, citric acid and biocide, such as bleach.

Some of these ingredients, like the sugar bleach, came at the recommendation of The Gooch’s “florist friend.” Others, like the alkaline batteries, were simply pulled from the almighty internet.

The Gooch let the roses sit for 7 days, each flower covered by a cylinder made of colored construction paper, before he gave the big reveal.

The results of the first couple of roses—the ones given Aspirin and 7 Up—wasn’t anything to write home about. In fact, The Gooch remarked that the 7 Up rose looked “sad.”

From there, the experiment had both unexpected losers, like the expert recommended sugar-bleach solution, and some surprising winners, like the denture tab solution which actually proved to be “ pretty amazing.”

One of the biggest surprises of all came from the alkaline batteries, which did keep the rose remarkably fresh, even if it made the water look like it came from a sewer.

In the end, the best result came from tablets, popcorn kernels, batteries, flower food and pennies, with the latter two being the best solutions overall.

@the_gooch Tasting what keeps flowers fresh longer #flowers #experiment #valentines #valentinesday #valentine #roses #fyp #foryou #foryourpage #longervideos #longvideo #longvideos #tipsandtricks ♬ original sound - The Gooch

After The Gooch’s video went viral, amassing nearly 22 million views, others began offering their own flower preserving tips.

“I do flower food, copper pennies (b4 1983) and ice cubes in the water. Replace water weekly. Flowers will last for 3-4 weeks,” one person wrote.

Another added, “when I was in school we were taught to cut our roses under water so that an air bubble isn’t created in the stem.”

Still, one florist noted that the real key is far more simple.

“The most impactful thing is to change the water every day (I’m a florist) — flower food has food (sugar) and a little bleach too to try and minimize bacteria, but clean water is the most helpful!” they wrote.

Adding onto that, the website Green Fresh Florals recommends to continue trimming the bouquets’ stems every few days, removing any leaves that would sit below the water line and not only changing of the water every couple of days, but putting the stems in warm water than slowly transitioning to cool water to prolong vibrancy.

Or you could follow this viewer's advice, who joked, “[The] ultimate trick is to leave them on the rose bushes, it’s hands down the best method.”

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His must-see 'flower flashes' bring color and whimsy to urban spaces.

Lewis Miller is one of the most sought-after floral designers in the country.

His work is more than bouquets in corner shops or farmers markets; they're lavish works of living art for major events, like fashion shows, galas, and other larger-than-life spectacles.

It's when the champagne runs dry and the elite head for the doors, however, that Miller's creativity really shines.

Miller doesn't just toss the flowers in the trash. He gives many of them a sustainable, loving second life. Using public spaces as a canvas, Miller and his team use leftover flowers to add pops of color all over New York City.

Lewis Miller Design gave this cat sculpture outside the Crosby Street Hotel a mohawk makeover. All photos via Lewis Miller Design, used with permission.

His vision of covering the city in flowers began in October 2016 after decorating the John Lennon Memorial in the Strawberry Fields area of Central Park. He and his team assembled before dawn to arrange fresh blooms around the memorial as a way to share the beauty and magic of his flowers with the people of New York City.

Miller described the inaugural effort on his blog:

"So at 5:45 AM, my team and I filled the LMD van with 2,000 flowers and descended on the John Lennon Memorial in Central Park, a circular mosaic resembling a mandala with one word in the center: IMAGINE."

As the sun came up, Miller feared their efforts would be swept away by the parks department, but thankfully, he wrote, "...[they] gave us their approval and blessing with a quick thumbs up."

Before long, people were taking selfies and photos of the lush design and sharing them on social media.

A phenomenon was born.

Since then, Miller and his team have continued their effort to spread wonder and delight to the people of New York with their "flower flashes."

Using public trash cans as vases, Miller and his team make giant bouquets to perk up New York City street corners.

The flowers and stems burst from the grimy, steel gray wastebins, giving unassuming corners (and last night's bouquets) a fitting encore.

"It's nice to give our clients' flowers a groovy second life," he told Domino.

For the element of surprise, the team installs the delicate bouquets very early in the morning.

Of course, it helps that there's a crew up even earlier than Miller's team.

"We are very thankful," Irini Arakas Greenbaum, Miller's director of special projects says, of the city sanitation department and garbage collectors who "are up even earlier than us and empty the cans before we get to our destination."

Miller adorns public art and sculptures too.

And even does a little blooming typography.

No space is too small or too large for a bloom or two ... thousand.

Due to the impermanent nature of flowers, weather, and human nature, each flower flash lasts less than a few days.

"When we flash a sculpture, the flowers tend to last longer, sometimes even three or four days," Miller told Domino. "With the trash cans, people feel more inclined to take them. It's usually the early morning dog walkers that have the stickiest fingers and take the flowers home with them."

The temporary nature only makes these living works of art even more delightful. They are rare, vibrant, and, thanks to the element of surprise, almost magical. For locals and tourists alike, they are a gift that keeps on giving.

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8 abandoned industrial sites turned into whimsical, haunting, and gorgeous parks.

Hallo. It’s me. Your friendly neighborhood grouch.

It’s springtime, which means the sun is shining, birds are in the air, flowers are blooming ... blech. You know what I want? Pollution! Chemicals! I want to go where the grass is orange and the water green!

Maybe I’ll just trip on down to my favorite industrial site. Seattle's got a nice one full of rusty old towers and old coal grime and beautiful chemical processing machines and ... what is this?

Where did the coal gas plant go? All the equipment's here, but it looks ... clean and beautiful?!

Seattle's Gas Works Park used to make coal gas, but since the 1960s, it's been a delightful public park. The old plant towers like a post-apocalyptic cityscape over grassy hills and the water of Lake Union.

Gas Works is what you could call a "reclaimed park," and a lot of places around the world have jumped on the trend of grabbing old industry or waste sites and turning them into beautiful public spaces.

And I, as a trash-and-grime-loving grouch, could not be more disappointed! I mean, check out these other seven sites people have ruined with their whole "Oh, no, we don't like trash. We like laughing and flowers and babies and laughing-flower-babies" schtick.

Freshkills Park on Staten Island used to be the largest landfill in the country.

Photo from New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

Now it's a park filled with osprey nests and kayakers. Kayakers! See what I mean?

Then there's Glass Beach near Fort Bragg, California. Pretty again!

The beaches used to be perfect grouch-worthy dumping grounds, but over time, people hauled out metal and other rubbish, leaving just glass behind, which the ocean's pounded into beautiful little pebbles. Now it gets tourists!

Although, really, even I, a grouch, must admit that this German park has a kind of eerie, serene beauty to it.

Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images.

Landschaftspark in Duisburg-Meiderich, Germany, used to be an ironworks plant, but was abandoned in the 1980s. Since then, it's been reclaimed and turned into a park and cultural center. There are even high ropes courses and viewing towers!

Photo by Thomas Starke/Getty Images.

The High Line in Manhattan used to be a freight line. Now it's basically like a super-cool elevated walkway and a garden had a baby.

Photo by Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

Again with the babies!

Even old prisons are getting in on the bit. I mean, check out Alcatraz!

The gardens used to be one of the few bright spots on Alcatraz, back when it was an infamous prison. The gardens were abandoned when the prison closed down in the 1960s. Years later, with some human help, the plants exploded into this riot of color. There are even places where the plants have taken over!

Although, as much as I hate to admit it, I do really dig that whole overgrown ruins vibe...

The Huangpu River waterfront in Shanghai, China, used to be a steel factory and shipyard, but look at it now.

Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images

Now it's known as Houtan Park. Regenerative wetlands are helping to restore the environment, while long, winding paths give visitors a beautiful experience right in the heart of one of the world's biggest cities.

Finally, check out Cheonggyecheon stream in Seoul, South Korea.

Photo by Park Ji-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images

The stream used to be a gigantic, trash-filled eyesore and was actually covered over in concrete in the 1950s, but today, it's been restored into this grand public space.

And while trash is lovely, splashing around in that water does look like fun...

Fine, fine! You win! Even this grouch must admit reclaiming old industrial sites is pretty legit.

The mix between old tech and lovely green space, the concept of taking the old and revitalizing it, history and fun twisted together ... it's pretty magical. Plus, having parks nearby can make people happier and healthier!

You got me, springtime. I guess I have no choice but to go enjoy the new life humans have breathed into these old sites. Good job, guys.

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A man threatened 2 Muslim women. These Canadians responded with flowers.

For me and for a lot of people, recent political events have made the world feel a little less ... welcoming. And that's true in places outside of America, too.

Janelle Venne, who has lived in Ottawa and, more recently, Alberta, Canada, for most of her life, says this recent surge of hatred is spreading north.

She tries to do her part every day, whether that's volunteering to cover up racist graffiti or just flashing a warm smile to passersby. But Venne says she heard a news story a few weeks back that made her stomach turn. A man had taken a rope out of his jacket, tied it into a noose, handed it to two hijabi women he saw at a light-rail station in Venne's town of Edmonton, and taunted them, singing "O Canada." The encounter was caught on camera by the two women.

“I was thinking, 'Why doesn't somebody do something about this?'" Venne says. "Then I realized: I am somebody.”

Venne came up with the idea to take back her local train station as a safe space for all by handing out flowers to any women she saw there wearing hijab.

Initially, she thought she'd spend about $50 of her own money on a few carnations. But the more people she talked to, the more people wanted to get involved.

Working alongside other volunteers, including Nakita Valerio from AMPAC (the Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council), Venne scraped together over $500 in only 24 hours.

That meant she was able to buy about 1,000 flowers to hand out.

Nakita Valerio (center) and Janelle Venn pose with flowers. Photo by Nakita Valerio, used with permission.

On Dec. 7, 2016, almost exactly a month after the incident, Venne and other volunteers set up shop between two escalators on the main train platform.

People filtered past in bunches — dozens of them, hundreds. And each time a woman wearing a hijab hurried through the crowd, Venne and others quietly slipped her a flower, their way of saying "You are welcome here."

"The first person I gave a flower to, she just about broke out crying and gave me a huge hug," Venne says. Another woman received a flower on her way to class, then came back to the station just to thank the volunteers again.

A group of people are giving out flowers in the University LRT station to Hijabi women in response to the hate crime...

Posted by Yasmeen Abdallah on Wednesday, December 7, 2016

In 12 hours, Venne says, the group handed out over 800 flowers.

And what might be even more encouraging than the sheer number of kind gestures performed by the volunteers that day was the interest from non-Muslim passersby.

"All different kinds of people came up and asked what they were up to and asked how they could help," Venne says. Many of the flowers were given to curious strangers who promised to hand them out throughout the day.

Photo by Nakita Valerio, used with permission.

Of course, not everyone loved what Venne was doing, and a few said so. “But the percentage was so tiny," she says. "They're loud, but they're obviously not the majority.”

Unfortunately, Venne and her friends can't be everywhere in the world at once, making sure everyone feels safe and loved.

So she has a few pieces of advice for anyone who might find themselves witnessing harassment like the incident that took place at her local train station:

“Completely ignore the harasser. Communicate with the person being harassed,” she says. Make normal conversation with them. Make them feel comfortable. “Eventually, the harasser will go away.”

If you're up for doing something more proactive in your own community to make the world feel safer, a little can go a long way.

"Because women who wear hijabs are so targeted and so easy to spot," Venne says, "I figured they should be targeted for a positive reason for once."

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