Try giving them a teaspoon of sugar I find it perks roses up.

Recommendation with woody stemmed cut flowers is to crush the bottom inch of the stem before putting in water. I always do it, no idea if it makes a difference frankly - roses usually last a week at most in water.

My daughter-in-law swears by lemonade but I've not used it myself... Sadly roses don't survive long as cut flowers from the supermarket, I suspect it is the way they are looked after, or, rather, not looked after, by the staff.

I rarely buy roses because florists roses are prone to this problem whether you buy a bunch or an arrangement.
If I do buy a bunch I remove all the leaves that would be in water once they are arranged, have ready a bowl with 2 inches of boiling water in it. Scrape the bark off for 1-2" and then put the stems under the water before cutting off at least one inch of stem. Don't bash the stems apparently that can encourage bacteria which will not be helpful. Split the stem for one inch. After their 2 minute dip plunge them in to cold water as far as the leaves. You can use the conditioning food in this water if you want to use it. Leave the roses in the water for at least 2 hours to have a good drink. I usually leave them overnight. I then put them in a vase of cold water which has had a soluble aspirin or a teaspoonful of sugar - dissolve before adding - or a good cupful of lemonade added and they do keep better. If they wilt then repeat the process. Most times they do recover. The following website is quite useful in explaining the various conditioning regimes needed for both flowers and foliage.
http://www.theworldsbestflowers.com/conditioningflowers.html

Good clear info Scotsgran and pleased to know daughter-in-law's claim for lemonade has a foundation.

We were having a flower festival at the church and an expert was brought in to keep us right about how to condition the plants.

Thank you all for your encouraging suggestions, which I will follow. Lemonade, sugar and asprin sound good.

Strangly, I also bought a mixed bunch of flowers from the same shop, same day, which also had roses, though of a different variety and they are still upright and perky. I didn't use the flower food in the pink roses as it ruins the glass vases but I did use it in the mixed bunch. Is there a lesson here?

I used to be in the florist trade and when we had roses in we would cut and then bang the ends with hammer a little then put the stems (about an inch) in boiling water for 10mins so it bursts the air bubble up in the stem then plunge into cold water, you do this with Chrysanthemums too but only in boiling water for 3mins.
I don't know whether they still do it that way in the trade these days though, it was 40rs ago LOL :o)

We were told the hot water bursts the air bubbles that stop the rose or woody stemmed flowers and foliage taking up water so that is still current in the trade Ladyessex1 and we were also told not to bash the stems as they used to do, but only to split the stems with very sharp and very clean cutters so I suppose that has changed.

Crumbs! I didn't realise keeping cut roses was so complicated!
That's probably why they don't last in this house!

Its a good idea to wrap the roses loosely in newspaper before putting them in the boiling water, to protect the flower heads from the steam. But I think your vase full looks lovely spread out like that - rather more attractive than all standing stiffly to attention, but that's just me.

That was my first thought too Steragram but if you look closely you will see that there are several buds which will be past their sell by date unless something is done to help them very soon. They are a beautiful colour. I forgot the instruction to wrap the flowers up in paper to stop the steam ruining them, thank you for mentioning that.

Thank you, I did have some success, roses still living. I also heard of another remedy which was to cut 1" off the stems before laying them straight in tepid water and leaving them there until the water is cold - about 1hr.

They are indeed a lovely colour.

Glad to hear you are still enjoying them.

So there are Scotsgran. Anyway it seems Od156 has managed to improve matters.

I thought I had forgotten to click on add comment Steragram. We must have been on at almost the same time. I have never heard of laying flowers flat in tepid water.

Yesterday morning all the heads were looking downwards - od dear! So- first of all I cut 1" off the bottom of the stems and plunged them in boiling water for 10 mins., then laid them flat in 2" of cold water in a baby bath and left them overnight. This morning I put them back into a vase of fresh water and one teaspoon of sugar, just happened to be brown sugar. VERY pleased with the result as latest picture. Now 16 days old.

How can I add my second picture?

I added the photo to:-
www.growsonyou.com/od156

Click on Update question whichis under the question and scroll down to add photos and just add it. I have had a look at your revived bouquet and they are lovely.

When I saw 10 mins I thought Oh dear, she's overdone it - very glad to be wrong and so pleased your roses recovered!

Thank you to all who have given me these very helpful suggestions.

Please put us out of our misery, how long did they last.