How Do You Pick the Best Roses? Tips from an Experienced Florist in Houston

Ask someone who’s unfamiliar with flowers to name a flower they’ve heard of at least once and they’ll probably say “rose”. It’s not surprising, though, considering this flower’s immense popularity. With 13,000 varieties, rose literally dominates the flower kingdom. These droves of varieties, however, make choosing the right type to use for a certain occasion quite difficult, especially because there are various customs and etiquette that surround gestures involving rose. Here are some tips for selecting roses that may come in handy when you’re thinking of using flower delivery from downtown Houston.

Watch Out for Old Bulbs

Perhaps the most challenging part of selecting roses is telling apart fresh pieces from the ones that have been in the flower shop for a long time. This is important because old roses, despite looking good in the shop, usually wilt faster than the newly-blossomed ones when taken out and not given proper treatment. To identify the fresh pieces, simply run your finger on the petals of each type of rose you come across with in the shop. Any handbook for selecting roses states that the ones with the crispest petals are usually the freshest.

Open and Close Buds

Of course, you want to see your roses in the fullness of their splendor with all their petals elegantly stretched out. But you want that not at the shop while you’re purchasing the roses but during the occasion they are intended for. If your bouquet of roses consists of both buds and full-bloom bulbs, you’ll have a chance to witness some of the buds actually opening at the perfect moment.

Stalk the Stalks

When evaluating roses, it’s not just their petals that hold clues to how old they are, but their stems as well. If you can’t distinguish fresh blooms from old ones by just running your fingers on the petals, try doing that on the stalks. If the stalks feel strong when you try to bend them, it’s possible that they’ve just recently been cut. Older pieces, meanwhile, will break easily.

Choose the Container Last

Many rose hunters make the mistake of choosing a container first before opting for the blooms. As a result, their choice of flowers becomes limited by the type and size of the container they’ve chosen. For instance, if they picked a very tall vase, they will have to choose roses with long stalks, and even if those roses aren’t what they want, they don’t have a choice but to pick them for the sake of having something to fit in the long vase.

Worried about making wrong choices when it comes to roses? Better consult with a florist to get the best rose buying guide. You don’t have to make decisions prior to your trip to the flower shop. You can actually go there and discuss specifics with the florist before making up your mind. That way you can be certain to find the perfect rose for your occasion. If it’s a prominent flower shop in Houston like River Oaks Plant House, you’ll even get to enjoy a quick flower delivery service.