Bargain Roses

I rarely buy cut flowers at the supermarket, especially roses. They usually don’t have much fragrance, and despite my best efforts, don’t always last more than a couple of days. But I saw these in the floral dept. and fell in love with the colors. I’m a sucker for multi-hued roses.

The wrapper they came in had a label identifying the variety as “Big Fun”. It seems to be a rose plant that is only available to commercial growers, which is fine by me. When I spend money on rose bushes, I want something I can smell. Still, at $10 a dozen for some visual eye candy, Big Fun is living up to its name. I bought my bouquet almost a week ago. The flowers opened up quite nicely and look like they may last at least a couple more days.

Here are a couple of things that may have helped their longevity. Though these are long-stemmed roses, I wanted to put them in my blue vase. To do so, I needed to cut at least 8 inches from the bottom of the stem, which is not such a bad thing because it takes less time for the water to reach the flowers. I also removed all the remaining leaves. When sitting in the water, they foul it up rather quickly meaning frequent water changes. Even when above the water they compete with the flowers for a drink. Put your roses in a vase with a flared neck. When they open up, empty spaces between the flowers will be filled. So you won’t miss the leaves. Keep your bouquet in a cool place. Mine has been in my studio most of time. The room is on the north side of the house and tends to be the coldest when we have chilly weather. I only heat it when I’m working there. The bouquet came downstairs for Thanksgiving, then returned to my studio. If you’re making floral arrangements part of the holiday decorations, keep those rooms cooler when not in use. A cooler room also means a real Christmas tree won’t dry out quite so fast. Last, don’t throw out the flowers just because a petal or two is starting to turn brown. Locate the base of that petal and gently remove it. You won’t miss them on flowers with lots of petals and may get to enjoy the bouquet a little longer.

The Project Queen

 It's just an inexpensive florist's vase I received several years ago.

But I love the color, and it does show a dozen large flowered roses off quite nicely

when they are cut at the proper length.