Carnations
Often the petals are quite tight when you get these from the wholesaler and need to be open a bit to look nice and full. To open take an old carnations and gently brush the petals across the the top of the new carnation until the petals start to fan out. This is great because you aren’t damaging the petals with your fingers and will give you a nice full carnation after a couple brushes across the top.
Can stay fresh for 7-14 days.
They also come many colors, but Pink is usually associated with a mother’s love.
Lilies
Always clip the anthers off of Lilies before arranging.
Anthers are covered with red-brown pollen that surround the stamen. When the pollen is wet it can stain anything it gets on including clothing, table clothes, furniture etc. However if it is dry pollen it can easily be brushed away.
Keep cut lilies away from cats. If they bite a lily, lick the pollen, or drink the water from their vase it can cause them to have kidney failure.
Orchids
Popular types
Phalaenopsis orchids, also known as moth orchids come in various colors and patterns. – Great for arrangements or bouquets.
– Prepping tips: Simply remove from plastic wrapping, cut at 45 degree angle and place in a clean vase with warm water.
Cymbidium orchids are the most popular and have large fragrant blooms on very long stems.
- These are the most resilient of orchids and are ideal for wiring into bouquets, corsages, and boutonnieres or laying on reception tables as a simple, colorful adornment.
- Prepping tips: Make sure that the stem is supported in a tall, slender vase to help with life expectancy.
Dendrobium orchids stems are filled blooms and often come in fuchsia, chartreuse, yellow, white or purple.
-Great for bridal bouquets, corsages, and table centerpieces.
Prepping tips: remove plastic sleeve, then mist the blooms with water mist, or submerge flowers in warm water for 10 to 15 minutes.
Cattelya orchids are very fragrant and frilly making them very popular in corsages, bouquets, and boutonnieres.
– Prepping tips: Simply remove from plastic wrapping, cut at 45 degree angle and place in a clean vase with warm water.
Peony
Buy them as buds. This will allow them to last longer.
Make sure the buds are soft to the touch when you squeeze them. This means they are close to opening. If they are too hard they may never open.
If you need them to last a few days wrap them in newspaper and store them in the cooler out of water until ready to arrange.
Need them to open faster. Give them a fresh cut, place them in warm water and then place them in the sun for a few hours until the open.
Pink Roses
When buying roses make sure their heads are nice and firm when you squeeze them. This means they are nice and fresh as oppose to ones that are soft to the touch.
If you need them open faster put them in warm water and then place them in the sun for a few hours until they open just like Peonies. You can also take the stem and twirl them upside down between your hands or blow into the center of their petals gently.
Tulips
Tulips actually keep growing after they are cut. If you want to prevent them from growing in your arrangement make a small vertical cut in the stem right below the flowers head. You can also cut them a bit shorter than you actually want them to be and they will grow into your arrangement.
Droopy Tulip heads? This is usually because they flower isn’t getting enough water to its head due to a clogged stem. Stick a pin through the stem right under the flower head to create a tiny hole that will help unclog the stem so that it can drink more water. You can also try rolling a bunch of Tulips inside newspaper and plunging it into cold water.
Want to transfer your tulips into a totally new flower? Simply use the reflexing technique. Gently flip each petal downward until the whole Tulip is open and all the petals are pulled away from the center.
Gerber Daisys
This type of daisy often drinks a lot of water when you receive them so make sure to keep an eye on the water level when processing.
Gerber’s also come with netting and straws on their stems to help keep them standing nice and straight. If you want you can leave the straw on to help it stand or remove. Just note that because their heads are very large and they have a soft stem that often gets clogged they may start to droop. To avoid this you can wire them by sticking a wire up through the base of the flower head and then wrapping the wire down the stem to give it more support.
When processing cut under water, dip in quick dip then place their stems through a wire rack into warm water. Making sure that the head is supported by rack or grid and that that the stem is suspended in the bucket of water and not touching the bottom.