Appropriate to protect top of stand for flower (7)
I believe the answer is:
prosper
'flower' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to change as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'appropriate to protect top of stand' is the wordplay.
'appropriate' becomes 'proper' (similar in meaning).
'to protect' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are protected or taken in).
'top of stand' becomes 's' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'proper' going around 's' is 'PROSPER'.
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for prosper that I've seen before include "Go well" , "Make good" , "Flourish, do well" , "Thrive, boom" , "Get rich" .)