system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do flowers stay alive in vases even after the roots are removed, but plants will drown when there's too much water in the flowerpot.
gpt
Flowers are able to stay alive temporarily after cutting if you put them in water immediately, and they do so by taking up water through the stems. The reason they don't last this way is because they're not getting any of the minerals and nutrients they would be getting from the soil. 

However, plants don't actually drown when they're overwatered. They suffocate, because they cannot pull the oxygen they need from the oversaturated soil, and then they become more susceptible to fungal organisms in their weakened state.