The inside of flower vases can turn into a slimy, cruddy, calcified mess pretty quickly. As the water evaporates the minerals are left on the side of the vase, along with residue from the stems. The plant material will start to mold, turning the remaining water dank.

I was faced with this the other day, and in a glass vase so that there was no way getting around the fact that I needed to clean it. The calcification itself looked pretty daunting and then I remembered a great recipe I put in my first book, Clean & Green, that recommends pouring vinegar into the vase.

Vinegar will dissolve all the mineral buildup, or scale, that was deposited on the vase as the water evaporated.

Remembering the directions, I filled the vase to the top of the grime line with water, and added 1 cup of white distilled vinegar, and left it to set. Returning a couple hours of later, I poured the liquid out of the vase and was astonished to see how clean the vase had become, and was grateful that I had remembered such an easy trick. All I then needed to do was put the vase in the dishwasher, knowing that it would come out sparkling. (At that point, after the crud had been removed, I could have also done a quick hand wash for similar results.)