DO you wire your roses?
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Connie
New Member
We only wire roses and carns when a funeral piece is going to a certain funeral home because we know from experience how roughly the pieces are treated there. It has taken time and patience to reeducate one of our designers.
Thank you. I can't imagine doing that to all the roses we sell :boggles: We wire for hand work of course but I just couldn't "get" what you meant by "wire".
D
D
wiring roses
There is absolutely no need to wire roses in this day and time. If they are holding up for you longer when wired, you need to check out all the processing that is being done on the roses and check the varieties.
If you are using good roses, the care and handling methods prescribed today will make them last equally as long and they certainly look better without that wire.
The quality of roses is sooooo much better today than when I first got into this industry. The roses were such poor quality....it was necesarry to wire them and we knew so little about processing them.
In fact, all those years ago, we just hammered the ends of the stems, left the sleeves on, and put them in cold water and set them right into the refrigerator. I hope we have learned a little since then.
Carol Bice
There is absolutely no need to wire roses in this day and time. If they are holding up for you longer when wired, you need to check out all the processing that is being done on the roses and check the varieties.
If you are using good roses, the care and handling methods prescribed today will make them last equally as long and they certainly look better without that wire.
The quality of roses is sooooo much better today than when I first got into this industry. The roses were such poor quality....it was necesarry to wire them and we knew so little about processing them.
In fact, all those years ago, we just hammered the ends of the stems, left the sleeves on, and put them in cold water and set them right into the refrigerator. I hope we have learned a little since then.
Carol Bice
Audra
New Member
Back before the new bosses, there was a manager here who had definite S&M practices towards the flowers.
Our personal favorite involved glads - she use to step on the ends to squash them so that they sucked up water better. Practically mashed them flat.:boggles:
Audra
Our personal favorite involved glads - she use to step on the ends to squash them so that they sucked up water better. Practically mashed them flat.:boggles:
Audra
Wired Roses
I don't wire roses as a normal practice but I do sometimes wire the outermost roses in a casket piece because I have had more than one funeral director clip them off going through a door. So, any roses that look like they might be decapitated in transite get wired. I gently push a tiny piece of the wire into the rose to hold it steady, then wrap around the stem to the bottom. It doesn't hurt the rose and will be covered by other flowers or f
I don't wire roses as a normal practice but I do sometimes wire the outermost roses in a casket piece because I have had more than one funeral director clip them off going through a door. So, any roses that look like they might be decapitated in transite get wired. I gently push a tiny piece of the wire into the rose to hold it steady, then wrap around the stem to the bottom. It doesn't hurt the rose and will be covered by other flowers or f
In my past life as a retail florist, I wired roses in some circumstances, not because of fear of drooping heads, but because as some of you pointed out, to keep the heads from popping of in rough handling. In fact, one sign of really fresh, high quality flowers is a nice crisp stem, which may allow the heavy rose head to snap off just below the calyx.
I would simply insert a wire through the calyx then bend it down like a hair pin, and wrap tape to cover it. It was done for roses that would stick out of designs, such as funeral sprays or wide fans of roses in standing baskets, or in a large cascade wedding bouquet. Just a little extra assurance for any roses at risk of getting their heads knocked off. My staff and I never considered it a real bother, it is just part of "fussing" with flowers, which is what we are paid for!
I would simply insert a wire through the calyx then bend it down like a hair pin, and wrap tape to cover it. It was done for roses that would stick out of designs, such as funeral sprays or wide fans of roses in standing baskets, or in a large cascade wedding bouquet. Just a little extra assurance for any roses at risk of getting their heads knocked off. My staff and I never considered it a real bother, it is just part of "fussing" with flowers, which is what we are paid for!
what makes the roses last longer if you wire them?nothing makes a rose live longer except the quality of the rose
PhillyPhlorist
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- Feb 7, 2004
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Placing a wire thru the rose retards their opening...at least that's what those who wire them have told me.ARKANSAS GAL said:
BUT...don't we WANT a rose to open and show all it's glory????
- H.
Later this year my city's Main Street program will produce the third in an annual series of historical "events". This year the area involved includes our original location, established in 1885. I was recently thinking about how things were done in those days. In fact, it seems that many of those practices continued into the late 1940s or early 1950s. It occured to me that the idea of wiring flowers, especially roses, was perhaps due to the fact that floral foam did not exist and water tubes, if used at all, were glass. Products such as funeral sprays were hand-tied. I recall my parents telling me how funeral pieces would be made locally and shipped via Railway Express to funeral homes beyond our delivery area but still within a reasonable distance. Wiring would undoubtedly be necessary. While the rose would neither open nor last more than a day, it would be held up by the wire and be presentable. Since that was the standard of the day, it was acceptable to both the customer and the florist. Somehow, I think that method has survived into a day when it is neither necessary nor the acceptable standard. Fortunately, few of us still believe it necessary to prop up our flowers with an auxiliary wire stem.
I do acknowledge that there are circumstances where wiring provides a means to bend the stem and force the flower into a position it would not otherwise stay in, but that doesn't seem to be the question that was raised.
Tom
I do acknowledge that there are circumstances where wiring provides a means to bend the stem and force the flower into a position it would not otherwise stay in, but that doesn't seem to be the question that was raised.
Tom
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