Flower Questions You Ask:

Flowers, Flowers Everywhere

And What is One to Think?

Q. How long does it take orchids to open if they are to be used as wedding flowers?
A. While orchids can be one of the longest living cut flowers, usually up to two weeks, they will need to be purchased at least one week prior to the wedding and left at room temperature to take advantage of more open blooms. Dendrobium orchids for the bouquets can have unopened buds but if you want to get more blooms for boutonniers, then it's expedient to get as many blooms open per stem as possible.Cymbidium orchids usually come with 6 to 8 open blooms per stem so you will need a few days to get the remaining 2 or 3 blloms open.

Q.A flower bouquet had been sent regularly to a customer, and then the recipient phoned to complain the flowers were not lasting. As I couldn’t imagine why that would be, I had a courier pick them up to assess the problem. The bouquet had been placed in a vase without the water picks being removed. Others have called to ask the question: do you remove those little plastic containers?
A.Yes, you must remove the water picks from the roses before putting in a vase. From our experience with flower deliveries, a flower will empty a three-inch water pick of water in about three hours in summer. Other times,the flower has a time-advantage. So if you put the flowers in the vase with the picks still on, they will wilt once they have used up the water in the pick. As they have been just freshly cut you do not have to recut the stems after removing the pick.

Q.It was a trendy packaging method a couple of years ago to wrap the flowers in tissue and let the packaging be open at the end to reveal the stems.Will they recover?
A.Our flower stems will be misted and wrapped in a cello ‘diaper’ to survive the courier trip;in the heat of summer the stems are inserted into oasis, so that either way your bouquet is ready for the vase. However, if you ever receive flowers that have had the stems exposed to the air, recut on an angle and hydrate in room temperature water.

Q.Is the package of flower food necessary, or is an aspirin, sugar or other home remedy just as adequate to helping the flowers live longer?
A.The commercial floral foods help extend the vase life of flowers; it is comprised of dextrose for an energy source, a bio-inhibitor to prevent bacterial growth and an acidifier to lower the pH of the food to suppress bacteria and to increase water uptake. Also, fragrance is relative to nutrition so the food will enhance that. Now, not to contradict Martha Stewart who recommended bleach in the June 2005 issue of her Martha Stewart magazine to protect flowers, it is not recommended by the scientists. For research--yes research--that demonstrates the effectiveness of home remedies vs. commercial solutions click here.

Q.In the past decade, one customer walked through the door with the dozen roses she’d been sent a couple of days earlier. No doubt there are others as many feel that roses "just don't last." I could guess the problem as all 12 roses were drooping their heads about two inches below the bud. Just like humans, an entire vase of flowers don’t die all at the same time. Top grade roses should last 7-12 days.
A.Don’t cut roses with the scissors. Not only do the scissors compress the stem so that only a minimal amount of water can get up the stem, but the smallness of the cut reduces the capacity to hydrate. To offer the best possibility for water getting up the full length of the stem, cut part-way into the stem and then about a one-inch cut exposing the white core (which is what carries the water to the flower head).

Q.Does it matter how the stem is cut?
A.If the very end of the stem is cut so that it is pointed, then the stem does not sit on the bottom of the vase, thus allowing it to absorb more water as the slant also has a larger surface area.

Q.Why are flowers from a florist considered better quality, thus costlier?
A. Quality florists only buy grade one product, and spend hours “cleaning” the flowers, which means stripping leaves and recutting each stem manually. At Flowers Unlimited, we strip most of the leaves as they tangle in the container and make for messy arrangements, with leaves dropping into the buckets to contaminate the water. If you choose flowers from the market, they typically are in the plastic sleeves in which they were placed several days previously by the grower. In warm weather, condensation inside the plastic can cause the leaves to lose colour and force the buds to burst earlier than they would otherwise. Also, market flowers are frequently placed out-front, adjacent to the fruits and vegetables which give off ethylene gas. Many flowers are ethylene-sensitive.

Q. Is sugar good for cut flowers?
A. Sugar isn't harmful to flowers,the challenge is getting the right balance of sugar (food source) and keeping the stem-clogging bacteria and fungi from growing quickly and clogging the stems. That's why commercial flower food such as floralife is preferred.

Q. Since some flowers are edible, what do I do to create a sugared flower for decorations?
A. For cake decorations, use superfine sugar with a good-quality paint brush. For directions, see this site.Large-headed flowers like pansies usually work best, but you should know which flowers are edible and which are poisonous. Flowers can be eaten raw, fried, stuffed and infused according to world chefs.

Q. Can I propagate flowers from a bouquet?
A. Being a recycler from way-back, you can be sure I've got curly willow, ivy and the like in my garden. Just fresh cut and stand in a vase of water for several weeks until there are sturdy and lengthy root-hairs. I stumbled on this advice for rooting roses from stem-stock: remove leaves and flower head from the roses in your bouquet; stick stem in dirt in a protected place. Six months later, at least 20 percent of the number you try will have rooted....imagine a range or Ecuador roses by your garden gate! (Of course I anticipate you ordering the bouquet from me first!)

Q. Do floral paints affect the life of flower?
A. According to research done at the Perishables Research Organization, the average 5-day vaselife remains constant regardless which brand of floral paint was used except for metallic paints. The gold metallics reduced the vaselife by 50 percent.

Q. Does removing leaves shorten life?
A.Leaves on most flowers will turn yellow long before the flowers are past prime. In some flowers, they droop quickly or turn pale yellow, so we remove one-half, not only to keep above the waterline so as not to contaminate it, but according to research experts,removing leaves from lilies such as stargazers, reduced color intensity. The report said that this can be corrected by using flower food.

Q. Should the anthers be removed from lilies so gift recipients don't have to deal with pollen stains on clothes/furnishings?
A. Expert, Gay Smith in a recent article said that beyond avoiding pollen stains, "removing anthers enhances vase life." She also recommends masking or scotch tape to lift the pollen from material. I use a dry paint brush, which works well:don't ever rub, as it will probably cause a permanent stain.

Q.Any tricks for getting a tall or unusually-shaped vase clean?
A.Even dishwashers can't reach into the bottoms of irregular vases. Try filling with water and a couple of Alka-Seltzer tabs.

Q.Summer is hydrangea season here and not only do they hold their vase-life well, but are great flowers to dry with big heads sometimes nearly one foot across.How to make them last longer, without wilting?
A. An elderly customer offered up a gem of a tip: add a teaspoon of alum to the vase--look in the spice section of your food shop-- and the hydrangeas virtually paralyze, lasting indefinitely.

Q. Sometimes allium has a stong garlic smell but I really like the round purple ball of a flower for its simplicity. What to do?
A.A member of the garlic family, allium can have the familial smell. But with an average vase life of nearly three weeks, a drop of bleach in the water will control the smell and it's worth it. For your own, garden-variety allium, break apart a head of garlic and just shove the cloves into the pot or flowerbed in the spring. you'll have pale, almost white 'allium' for three years or more.

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