January 2025
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. As we start the New Year, I thought it would be fun to touch on something different for a change. As you all know there’s not much going on in the garden right now. Almost every month I tell you fresh flowers should be on your shopping list. But what do you do with them once you get them home. How do you treat them ? Where do they come from? Did you realize that most fresh flowers in the wholesale and retail markets are from other countries? Unless they are locally grown. Which is becoming cost prohibitive now for most local growers. Most fresh flowers are imported from Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Columbia, Canada, and Ecuador. In the United States, they are grown in Oregon, Florida, Texas, and Hawaii. And probably more.
If arriving by air, they are packed in long boxes, sometimes in ice to keep them fresh. Before you buy them, as many as 6 to 8 different people have handled them before you do. There are the growers, pickers, packers, shippers, bidders at the whole sale flower markets. And the buyers, like chain grocery stores, chain florist, independent florists and grocery stores. This will dictate the cost you pay for them also. The more or less they pay, the more or less expensive they are for you.
It’s up to the retailers to prepare them for retail sale to you. A good florist should make sure they are fresh and ready to sell. My point is, if they are not properly handled by any of these people, they will not last long for you. If you buy them at the grocery market, or florist ask them when they arrived. Look at the leaves on the stem. If they are limp, withered, and turning yellow, they are not fresh. Also, the center of the flower should be tight and firm. With roses, I squeeze the bud. If it’s soft, it won’t last long. (I wouldn’t do this at a florist’s shop though.)
Once you get them home, give them a fresh cut, snipping of about 2” off the stem. Strip off all the leaves on the stem that will be under water. Put them in temped water for 2 hrs. before you arrange them. Rose stems should be cut under water and quickly put into temped water and rested for 2 hrs.
Also before arranging. Roses are constantly drawing at the tip of their stems. If an air bubble gets in the stem, it can’t draw the water up. Be sure to use the packet of flower preservative that usually comes with most flowers. If you have no preservative, you can use sugar, or soda, vinegar, bleach, vodka, or an aspirin. About a tablespoon per 1 qt. of water.
Change the water daily. Recut the stems every few days. This should prevent bacteria from forming in the water and reducing the life of the flowers. Remove the stamens of Asian lilies.
The flowers that last the longest carnations, Peruvian lilies, also called alstroemeria or alstro, Chrysanthemums, mums, sea holly, zinnias, alliums. They come in a variety of beautiful colors now. Most tropicals, like orchards, anthurium, ginger, heliconia, birds of paradise, and protea will last too. One way to extend the life of your arrangement is to put it in a cool place at night. But not freezing. Bringing it back in at the am where you can enjoy it. Repeating this each night. This whole process is called conditioning. Next month I’ll go on to the mechanics of arranging them. Mechanics is a term describing what you use to arrange your flowers.
