Written By: Phaedra, a Pressed Bouquet Shop Designer
There are thousands of flowers, and we’ve seen most of them. While most are surprisingly durable, some are quite delicate. While these precious flowers are lovely, we have encountered some who did not hold up well to the combination of time and travel. We’ve come up with a list of the most common blooms to have some damage upon their arrival after being shipped. If you have any of these florals in your arrangements, don’t worry! They certainly don’t always lose their luster before coming to us, and we have plenty of solutions if they do. How you decide to move forward will depend on what matters most to you, be that the sentiment of the very florals you held, or the overall look of the finished piece (most about our levels of experience and how to decide which is best for you can be found in an early blog post, here).
Sweet Peas
10x10 Birth Flower Frame | April
Sweet peas add a great sense of fun to any bouquet. They have fine, fluttery petals and come in white, blue, pink and purple. They are a stemmy plant, which is a great look, but can be prone to petal loss because of how long the stem is. It’s harder for these types of flowers to get water as easily to each blossom. This means that they are apt to drying out if left too long as a cut stem. However, because there are so many to a stem, we can utilize the best looking ones in your designs, ensuring that you get the best look possible. These are very easy for us to source from our partner florist all year round, so if you have these in abundance and know you may be delayed in getting us your bouquet, look into the Rose Experience. You may find that the peace of mind that stems from our floral insurance is one more thing to cross off your list of worries as you plan and execute an event as intricate as a wedding!
Cosmos
A sweet floral mostly seen in fall, cosmos add a pop of color with their yellow centers and fine, shiny petals. Most often a rich pink or bright white, the add a charming bit of whimsy to any bouquet. If you have cosmos, it is even more important than usual that you are able to quickly ship or drop off your flowers as soon as you are able, ideally the first business day after the wedding. Those shimmery petals are likely to fall from the connecting center if left too long without beginning the preservation process. We recommend keeping the bouquet in the fridge, where it can stay as fresh as possible. If you notice your cosmos, or any other floral, drooping, let us know you’re concerned about its longevity when you send it in or drop it off. If we feel that the cosmos may not make it, we will reach out to you with options, such as adding Rose Experience (please note that cosmos can be difficult to source during certain times of the year, even with our added insurance- we sure wish we could make any flower grow at any time!).
Anemones
16x20 Black Wood Frame with Anemones
Anemones are a very common floral throughout the year. We love these flowers in any color they come in, but there’s just something about a classic, white anemone with its dark button-like center. These are another type of bloom with very delicate petals. These petals are less likely to drop off as quickly, but there is concern that they can wilt and turn brown at the edges, which works its way down the flower. Again, make sure you are keeping your flowers in a cool, dark space until they are on their way to us to help avoid such a fate. Anemones are a common flower, and therefore it’s very easy for us to source replacements, if the Rose Experience is added.
Lilies
6x6 Birth Flower Frame | Lily of the Valley
We absolutely love lilies of all types. Day lilies, tiger lilies, Lily of The Valley- all are beautiful varieties. Lilies with large petals, such as day lilies and tiger lilies, can be a bit finicky when being pressed. If the petals are not relatively fresh, we’ve found that the breakdown of the flower can lead to the petal appearing translucent when fresh, which is perhaps interesting, but not ideal for including in a design. The fresher they are upon arrival, the better! We press larger lilies petal by petal, our specialists taking great care to use the best petals. Our designers will rebuild the entire lily before putting it into a frame or resin piece, meaning they can cleverly cover up any browning or translucency with the petals themselves.
Lily of The Valley is a very different looking flower to its larger relatives. They have a very brief season in spring, making it all the more important to ship carefully, as we cannot always source replacements— though we do keep as many in our own inventory as possible! To keep these safe, set a few aside in their own water, so you can be sure the stems are hydrating the delicate flowers.
Poppies
10x10 Birth Flower Frame | Poppies
Another spring-summer bloom, poppies, are pretty popular for their charmingly bright center and petals reminiscent of butterfly wings. Just looking at them, you can see that they are delicate and prone to wilting, so these are another we urge you to get to us quickly. While they are absolutely lovely, they have a short life as a cut flower and need to get to us as soon as possible to keep them looking in top shape, especially as they are seasonal and can be troublesome to source at certain times of the year. If your bouquet or arrangement uses a lot of poppies, it’s nothing to fret over! Our Quality Team carefully assesses each bloom that goes through our shop and will ensure that the most beautiful are used in your designs. Poppies are another flower that we recommend adding on the Rose Experience for.
Larkspur and Delphinium
10x10 Birth Flower Frame | Larkspur
These are two of the most common secondary florals we see, and we love both varieties! Delphinium, typically a shade of blue, has rounded, paper thin petals and a “tail” that comes from the back of the flower. Larkspur has slightly more pointed, but no less delicate, petals and no little tail. These both grow on a tall stem, with many little flowers on those stems. While they travel fairly well, and those long stems give plenty extra for our designers to work with, they do begin wilting early. Their height can also make packaging a bit tricky. If you have a tall bouquet, make sure to measure the box you’ll be using against the bouquet, so nothing gets squished in transit.
We hope that you find this helpful if your bouquet contains any of these beautiful blooms! If you are interested in the more encompassing tiers of experiences, both the Rose and Peony packages include floral insurance, so no matter what happens every flower in your finished design will look its very best!
