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!