Thursday, June 30, 2011

Flower Questions Answered




QUESTION: Have you ever wanted to purchase fresh flowers in bulk quantities?? For a festival? For a wedding in the family? For a large party?
QUESTION: Have you wondered how to unpack boxes of flowers?
Flowers bought from a grower directly or from the wholesale market require different handling:
Here’s How:
1. Plan for arrival when you place the order.
Flower parcels usually arrive early morning before 7am.
Organise to pick them up early.
Your flowers should be opened and cared for immediately.
If that’s not practical for you, have them sent to a location where they can be received and placed in a cool dry place out of direct sunlight and extreme temperatures for a few hours until you can get to them.
2. Prepare to condition your flowers.
Gather assorted sizes of clean buckets and vessels to hold and support flowers.
Fill them 1/3 with water.
You will need scissors to cut paper or plastic wrap OR RUBBER BANDS around the flowers.
Fill a wash basin with water. Stems have to be cut under water first time.
Flowers need to be cut at a slant and not with a knife.
Use a good quality scissor or a stem cutter.
3. Clean and Condition Flowers.
Open the box, remove flowers, and cut packaging away from each bunch of flowers.
Cut the rubber band off the stems. Do not try to pull the band off, you will invariably harm the flower.
Strip all foliage below the waterline.
Cut away any broken or damaged blooms or foliage.
Save pieces that are pretty enough to be used in bud vases or floated in a urli.
Cut the stems individually or in groups underwater(as mentioned above) with the scissor and place immediately into the appropriate size bucket of water.
Make sure that the wall of the bucket/vessel should support the neck of the flower. Otherwise flowers will droop.
4. Hydrating the Flowers.
Let the flowers absorb water for several hours (4-24).
Cleaning and conditioning your flowers this way will ensure good hydration which is key to long vase life.
Over the next few days have fun assorting, arranging, and designing your flowers into lovely bouquets and groupings.
SPRING BLOSSOMS methods:
For my Saturday events at SPRING BLOSSOMS, the flowers usually arrive in my studio on Friday for cleaning and conditioning. They receive a full 24 hours to hydrate and bloom before we design with them on Saturday.
Flowers, conditioned and designed are ready to be delivered all over Mumbai.
This ensures the quality and freshness of flowers.