Appropriate to protect top of stand for flower (7)
I believe the answer is:
prosper
'flower' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to change as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'appropriate to protect top of stand' is the wordplay.
'appropriate' becomes 'proper' (associated in meaning).
'to protect' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are protected or taken in).
'top of stand' becomes 's' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'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" .)