Backyard Bouquets: How to Enjoy Your Butterfly Candy Indoors

There’s something uniquely rewarding about filling your home with blooms you’ve grown yourself, especially when they come from a plant as vibrant and versatile as Butterfly Candy. Compact, colorful, and beloved by pollinators, this garden favorite doesn’t just perform outdoors; it shines indoors, too.

With bold blooms in shades of pink, lavender, and white, a light, sweet fragrance, and strong, vase-ready stems, Butterfly Candy brings just as much charm to your arrangements as it does to your landscape. Even better? Snipping blooms encourages even more flowers to follow.

In this post, we’ll walk you through how to harvest, prep, and style your Butterfly Candy for stunning, long-lasting indoor arrangements, so you can turn your backyard into your personal flower shop.

How & When to Harvest for Best Results

• Timing Matters: Cut blooms in the early morning or evening, when the plant is well hydrated and outdoor temps are cooler. Midday cuts can lead to quicker wilting.
• Choose the Right Stems: Look for stems with freshly opened or just-opening flowers. Avoid cutting blooms that are past their peak or fully faded. You’ll get the most vase life from blooms that are just hitting their stride.
• Use Clean, Sharp Tools: A sharp, disinfected pair of pruning shears or scissors helps you make a clean 45° cut that improves water uptake and reduces stem damage.

Prepping Your Stems Like a Pro

1. Remove the Lower Leaves: Strip any leaves that will sit below the waterline in your vase. Leaves left submerged will rot and encourage bacteria that shorten bloom life.
2. Hydrate Right Away: Bring a clean container of cool water out to the garden with you. Place stems in water immediately after cutting! Even a few minutes without hydration can cause wilting, especially in warm weather.
3. Let Them Rest: If time allows, let stems sit in a cool, shady spot indoors for an hour or two to hydrate fully before arranging. This helps the flowers perk up and ensures a longer vase life.

Creating Your Bouquet

Create Texture

Butterfly Candy pairs beautifully with herbs, like Chef’s Choice® Culinary Rosemary, hydrangeas, such as White Wedding® and 'Big Daddy', and greenery, such as 'Kaleidoscope' Abelia. To add a touch of contrast and complementary fragrance, you can also add Diamond Spire® Gardenia to your Butterfly Candy arrangements. 

Arrangement Styling 

• Trim stems at staggered lengths to create a layered, dome-shaped silhouette.
• Don’t skip the greenery; it leaves add depth, dimension, and a color transition between flowers.
• Use large, soft blooms, like hydrangeas, as the base to create fullness.
• Add Butterfly Candy blooms as the eye-catching vertical element; its upright form adds height and movement.
• These blooms also shine in small arrangements or bud vases. 

Prolong the Life of Your Arrangement

• Change the vase water every 1-2 days.
• Give stems a fresh angled cut and rinse out the vase to reduce bacterial growth every  2-3 days.
  • DIY floral preservative:  Mix 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of white vinegar, and a few drops of bleach in a quart of water. This combo feeds the flowers and helps keep the water clear.

Remember to place arrangements in a cool room, away from direct sunlight, fans, or heat vents. Heat accelerates the wilting process and shortens the life of your arrangement. 

Cutting from your Butterfly Candy plants isn’t just a way to bring color inside; it’s a gentle nudge for the plant to keep blooming outdoors, too. With a few simple tools and a little care, you can enjoy these vibrant flowers in your living room, kitchen, or anywhere you want to add a splash of garden-grown charm.

Ready to bring your blooms indoors? Browse the Butterfly Candy collection today, and use our Garden Center Locator to find a retailer near you!