GETTING INTO HOT WATER...with roses!

As we quickly approach Valentine's Day (our pre-book roses were actually ordered 2 weeks ago), our thoughts turn to roses.

The old saw is to put roses into cold water. While there are benefits to water - and air temperature - being cool, it is important not to shock your cut-flowers, whether they be roses or any other type of flower. The ideal temperature for refridgerated cut-flowers is around 42 degrees, and that's where commercial operations (farms, shippers, wholesalers & florists) target. Maintaining that temp through the channels of distribution are essential to longevity.

In reality it is the continuity of temp as much as the temp itself. Like food items and beer, cut flowers tend to fail rapidly in "temperature-cycling." The shock is too much.

Back to the point at hand. Cool water -rather than cold - is best for your newly arrived roses. Ideally, being winter, if you have the choice of a warm room versus a cooler one, you will get significantly longer vase-life in the latter. Caveat here is to make sure the room is well above freezing at all times.

Cut your roses at an acute angle before putting them into water, and perform this step every 2-4 days for longer vase-life. Always use the preservative packaged with your fowers, and besure to use clean water and containers. If you have an old vase, wash it first. Bacteria is the #1 enemy of cut-flowers.

Lastly, on occasion, rose stems will "wilt." They will actually bend over and face their drink like so many people I know 2 hours after the ball drops on New Year's Eve. The exception to the above is in this case. Cut back the woody stem hard, and place the stems into HOT tap water. Say a "Hail Mary." Your roses are pretty well gone by this point, but if you pray and follow this step, you might well "resurect" them. .

It happens...

Flowers from around the world (& their care)

I am often asked where this or that flower comes from, is it true this is an international business, and don't I think its amazing...

Well, in fact I do, it is, and as for the where, I usually point around the room from bucket to bucket and say these flowers are South American, those are Californian, that's eastern seaboard foliage, those tropicals are from Jamaica, Hawaii & Costa Rica, and those orchids came from Thailand (which is the world's largest commercial producer, as well as it is of silk flowers).

Yes, our flowers really do come from a number of top quality growers within our syndicate and are cut & shipped on a daily basis. The rose, for instance, we delivered to you was most likely grown in either Colombia or Ecuador, shipped out of Quito, Bogota, or Medellin, flown to Miami and then to New England - all expedited transportation in a temperature controlled environment, using a state of the art real-time inventory control system.

What really matters when it comes to the quality and freshness of flowers is the post-harvest system of that farm, of us the professional florist, and of you. These are the conditions under which the flowers are kept (grading, temperature, hydration, packing & handling) between the time of shipment from the farm and delivery to your table. All contribute marginally to what is often very significant differences in quality. In our syndicate speed, cooling & hydration are predominant factors, but also proper care, regarding biocides & water clarifiers are important. Often in competitors' channels of distributon, flowers are held too long in too many places between a mulitude of various growers, shippers, brokers, exporters, importer and regional wholesalers with substantial inventories that take (waste) days before flowers are sold. Alternatively, other channels of distribution (in efforts to speed the process) employ FedEx or other carriers to transit a product (fresh flowers) they are not set-up to specialize in, and thereby fail to properly hydrate & refrigerate, thus diminishing the quality of the product. Our syndicate quite simply moves a superior product, fast & efficiently, taking proper care all the way. Flowers that arrive at REYNOLDS FLOWERS are the best available. Once here we then properly treat them depending upon their nature (gerberas require very different care than do orchids (hepaphytes) than do tulips, roses or hydrangea). Once "stabilized" to room environment, our fresh flowers are ready to be arranged and sent to their final destination: YOU.

Every package we deliver will have attached to it proper care & handling instructions and an appropriate package of "preservative." Please follow the directions attached for the longest possible "vase life" for your flowers. In addition to the additive there are some constants you should be aware of:

1. Fresh cut flowers like to be cool (but not cold). If you have a choice between a warm room & a cooler one, pick the cooler one;

2. Flowers love water - never let them run out;

3. Due to having been cut, certain physiological changes may occur more noticeably in one species or another, particularly hydrangea, roses and other "woody-stemmed" blossoms. These particularly have a nature of 'wilting' - but all is not necessarily lost. Remove the stems from their foam or water, re-cut them at an acute angle, and place into fresh water. Spritzing their blossoms and pealing off older foliage will also be helpful.