When having an event, many floral designers prefer to work with flowers in their designs that are completely open. Buying them fresh at your wholesaler is risky sometimes. Will they open on time? And once they do, do you have a cool room to keep them fresh? In wintertime, it might be too cold to open in time, and in summer, when it is warm, they often open up too early. It is always a hassle to get the perfect blooming stage for your event decorations.
Ask the Grower
Did you know that you can ask some rose growers to leave the flowers on the plants to open completely, just in time for when you need them? These rose growers who can do that for you, they know exactly when the flower will be at its prettiest. You are guaranteed of the most beautiful flowers, in the perfect stadium, and with the biggest flowers possible.
Patrick Dobbe, Wholesaler
When you don't know these growers yourself, you know you can find a wholesaler who does and ask them if they can ask it for you. Patrick Dobbe, the owner of Dobbeflowers in Aalsmeer, sometimes gets these questions from floral designers:
"Some of my customers do ask for completely opened flowers. I always try to fulfill my customer wishes, and I happen to know some growers who really don't mind doing it. Or actually liking to do it. Sometimes! Because leaving the flowers on the plants, now the grower also gets to see the 'end-product', whilst he normally sees only closed flowers. And they often receive the images of the flowers used in the designs of the floral arrangers after the event has taken place. Because the floral designer was so happy with it. It's a win-win.
Expensive
Understand these more open flowers don't come cheap. And you can only source them locally. Imported roses are almost impossible to buy completely opened. They can't be boxed in a way that doesn't damage the petals of the roses. Cutting and handling open roses is much more labor intense work for the grower and besides the extra care for the wrapping of the flowers, the grower also loses some of its production targets. Normally they harvest the flower when the flower is still in a bud. After cutting back, normally a rose plant needs 6 weeks to produce a new stem.
When harvesting more open, the flower is longer on the plant. And because of this, a grower can lose one harvest in the season. When they normally have five or six cuts in every growing season, when they leave the roses to open up more on the plans for you, they lose one cut. Because of the extra wrapping, and the loss in production, a completely opened rose can be sold for 1.5 times the normal price. Is it worth it?
Bart Bresser
For Dutch florist Bart Bresser, the answer is simple:
"For many decorations for events, I only want to work with roses that have completely opened. And bloom to the max. My customers know me for this, and they know I have a very good relationship with a few of the best growers in the world. And my customers really don't mind spending a little extra for what is, in my opinion, the best quality product available."
"I regularly visit these growers who leave the flowers on the plants, especially for me, and sometimes even get the chance to harvest the flowers myself. When I have time for it, I really love doing it.
Working with very ripe roses also has some advantages. It is true you have to use fewer flowers, and I think in general you can say that you spent about the same amount of money per square meter of decoration when using completely open roses."
Pictures by @leoniejansenfotografie.
