Stephanotis is available year round, but is most abundant from late spring to early autumn.  I once had a stephanotis plant in my yard.  When I bought it at the nursery I bought a Madagascar Jamine plant.  I was so surprised when it bloomed and I had stephanotis!

 

When you buy stephanotis, look for blooms that are bright white, waxy and firm.  When they are old they will start turning yellow, get wilty, sometimes have mold on them or bruising.

 

Normally, you will find stephanotis sold by the box, with 25 flowers inside.  These flowers do not have stems, per se, and once they are harvested they cannot absorb water through the tiny stem.  That is why they are sold in air tight boxes with damp shredded tissue or other dampened material on the bottom of the box…to give the flowers moisture.  Once in a while, you can buy stephanotis still on the vine, but that would be only at a professional flower market. 

 

Stephanotis needs to be hydrating when you get in home…so float the flowers in room temperature water for 20-30 minutes then put in the refrigerator, still soaking, for two hours.

 

After soaking, shake the water off the florets and place them back into an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use them.

 

Because stephanotis don’t have stems, you have to give them an artificial stem to be able to use them in designs.  You can buy “stephanotis stems” …..which have a cotton tube that is inserted into the flower to give the flower moisture attached to a wire.  You have to soak the cotton tube end in water before inserting into the flower.  You also have to tear off the tiny green stem of the stephanotis, which then gives you a small hole to push the cotton tube into.  The cotton tube fills the center of the flower.

 

Often you will see stephanotis used in bridal bouquets with pearls inserted into the center of the flowers.  That is done using boutonniere pins, cut down to about a 1/2 inch size and inserted into the cotton tube in the center of the flower.

 

During the really hot months of summer, I often dip my stephanotis in parafin wax to help them withstand the heat. 

 

 

Stephanotis boutonniere 

Stephanotis corsage

 

 

 

Jessica Simpson carried an all stephanotis bouquet when she got married.  I read that the bouquet contained 500 stephanotis flowers….my guess is that her bouquet would cost between $3,000.00 and $3,500.00, if purchased from a florist.  If you did this yourself, it would cost you about $400.00 plus A LOT OF TIME!

Roses are a bridal favorite whether they are in bright white or any other color.  Roses come in so many colors, it is pretty hard not to find one that matches or complements your color scheme and for the most part, roses are pretty easy to get your hands on.  Even the grocery stores sell bunches of roses!

 

How roses perform for you has a lot to do with how they have been handled before you get them and after you get them.  For the most part, there is not much we can do to address what happens before you get them….if you are buying from a flower market of some kind, make sure you are buying from a reputable grower.  But, I believe most of you are not buying wholesale, like I do, so you just have to go by how they look when you are buying them.

 

Have you ever seen somebody kind of pinching the rose heads….I do it sometimes….it is a way to see how firm the roses are….generally, the firmer they are, the fresher they are…..but NOT ALWAYS true.  Some rose varieties are just softer because of the petal counts or the way the petals open.  A rose that comes to mind is a POLO rose.  It is a white rose that opens up like an old fashioned rose, even though it technically is not an old fashioned rose.  Those rose heads will typically be softer when you pinch them.  They also are not a bright white.  The picture above contains POLO roses.

 

Another soft rose is an Osiana, which is a beautiful shade of peach.  It doesn’t have a super big petal count and therefore is typically softer to the pinch than other roses.  The Osiana rose is the rose on the right in this picture.

 

Besides the pinch test, there are other things to look for when buying roses.  The stems should look and feel straight and strong, as opposed to limp and weak.  The heads should be upright with no drooping petals.  The foliage should not be yellowing or falling off.  You’ll also want to be sure they don’t show signs of insect problems or fungal disease.  If you see anything on the stem or just below the flower head that looks like gray mold…don’t buy the roses!

 

 

Assuming that you find and buy good roses, get them home as soon as possible and start processing them immediately.  To process roses you want to strip all the foliage that will fall below the water line.  I like to remove ALL the thorns as well.  You really only have to remove the thorns below the water level, but trust me, you will be handling the roses above the water line and you don’t want to poke yourself with the thorns.  Some varieties of roses have really tiny almost clear thorns on the top third of the stems and that is typically where I am handling them.  Those micro thorns will get into your hands and fingers and wreak havoc, because you can’t see them to get them out.  I normally will use a florist’s knife and gently scratch those tiny thorns off the stems!

 

Next you want to give the roses a fresh cut, cut at least an inch off the stem length and cut at the biggest angle you can cut.  Make sure you are using really sharp sheers or knife.  You do NOT want to damage the stem with clippers that can’t make a clean cut.  The bigger the cut you can make, the more drinking surface you are giving the rose.  Roses need to drink water and any obstruction in the stem will disallow the water to get all the way up to the head which will cause bent heads.  Even an air bubble will cause the bent heads and roses are particularly vulnerable to this problem.  There are many professionals who believe that roses should only be cut under water, because when you cut underwater there can be no air bubbles getting into the stem.

 

If you use a rose stripper, which I totally recommend, make sure you do not tear or scrape the skin of the stem, because this allows microorganisms (bacteria) to get into the stem and will impede the flowers ability to get that good drink of water it needs.

 

It is absolutely BEST to dip each rose stem into a dipping solution of a hydrating liquid before you put them in a bucket or vase with flower preservative.  I don’t know of the hydrating liquids being sold at a retail level.  I plan on offering this product on my new website, www.flowerarranging101.tv under the products tab.  I will be offering any products that I learn cannot be purchased at a retail store that I feel you need to be able to do your own flowers professionally. 

 

Make sure when you transfer your roses to a bucket or vase that it is a clean bucket or vase.  I use Clorox Clean Up to wash all my buckets and vases.  A watered down clorox solution is fine too.  You just need to be sure that you are killing any bacteria in the bucket/vase.

 

If you are not going to use your roses right away, the idea situation is to process them (remove thorns/foliage, give fresh cut and dip in hydrating solution) and then place the roses into a bucket of tepid (luke warm) water for about two hours.  After that, it is best to put the roses into a refrigerator for at least another two hours (ideal temperature is 33-35 degrees).  After that, do all the arranging your heart desires with your roses. 

 

I know this sounds like a lot of work….if you want your roses to last, this is the process you should go through.  This is what any reputable florist does before they sell the roses to you!

 

After you have arranged your flowers, make sure to change the water every other day and recut the stems.  Always use flower preservative in the water as well.

 

When you display your flowers, make sure they are not sitting in direct sunlight or any other heat source.  So, don’t put your roses on a table right underneath a heater vent when the heater is in use.

 

 Enjoy your roses!