Valentine's Day Nightmare: I Can't Smell the Roses!

I am not sure if you noticed, but roses just don't smell anymore!

I have seen this so often as people pick up their hand-tied rose bouquets or vase arrangements, they automatically lean close to the blooms, taking that ever so rare moment to "smell the roses" and there it is, that puzzled look of something missing. Have you ever caught this? Or have you perhaps picked up a fresh dozen because of an intriguing color to only find out they smell like...well a daisy, a spider mum, a nothing. 

The first few times it happened to me I was confused, then sad. I missed the strong fragrance of the roses we grew in the yard. And then I found this little gem: The Pink Floyd Roses.

First of all, with a name like that, I was sure to give them a try. Second of all, I could smell them from across the grower's booth.

I bought a two dozen grower pack and took it back to the studio. I prepared my glass display vase by washing it with seventh generation eco multi surface cleaner, I rinsed it well and I filled the vase with distilled water and I repeated the steps with a cooler bucket.

I gave the entire bunch a fresh cut and placed it in the bucket, still in the cardboard wrapper to hydrate the roses. I didn't remove the wrapping for about 1 hour. After this I started processing the roses by opening the packaging and cleaning the roses one by one, getting rid of all the excess greenery and giving them a fresh cut with my florist knife, before putting them into the glass display vase that would eventually make its way into the display set by the front door of the studio. I tookone rose and placed in a small vase and kept it in the back, I wanted to see for myself how the roses would progressively open and how long it would last.

These roses worked like a magnet, pulling people into the shop all complimenting how amazing these roses smelled.....not only did we sell them pretty quickly, but we were also sold out and put them on our standing order guide.

Here are some facts about these roses:

1- the head size is between 5 and 6.5 cm 

2- The petal count per roses is 30/40 

3- their stems (in the 60cm we carry) are thick and strong although they do tend to bend a little as the rose opens. For this you can adjust the bent rose in the arrangement or cut it a bit shorter or simply wire it 

4- Their shelf life is 11 to 14 days. 

I fell in love with these roses, I am sure you will as well!