We sometimes bring several bunches of cut flowers to the beach, particularly if we are staying 4 or 5 days to a week, and have several house guests. Lisianthus are a favorite as they are abundant, lush, come in several pleasing colors, reasonably priced and tend to last several days despite the heat… However, after 3-4 days, some of the flowers tend to look bedraggled and wilted, and rather than chucking out the blooms, I find that “recycling” the flowers into a much smaller, tighter arrangement extends their life another 2-3 days…
Just take your vases filled with lisianthus, and cut the tips or ends which still have fresh looking blooms. You may need to strategically pare some of the blooms away. Stick them in a much lower vase filled with fresh water and just let them peek over the edge. Here we used a blue ceramic vase and while not obvious in these photos, it has an odd asymmetrical non-spherical shape, allowing the flowers to flow in a very organic way.
From the perspective of a new guest at the house, they would definitely think this arrangement was intentional, and not the result of recycling… it looked fresh, lively and would make a perfect centerpiece for a small lunch table.
Lisianthus up close are really a pleasure to behold… they look somewhat like lush open roses but they have a softness that you wouldn’t expect from a relatively hardy flower. Waling or Puenstespina farms seem to be raising these lisianthus blooms in Mindanao which are then sent by airfreight to Manila. They are a frequent sight in commercial flowershops at the moment. At the source, they are roughly PHP180 for 6 large stems, if you are interested, contact Waling flowers at the Manila Seedling Bank.
8 Responses
*lightbulb moment*
ahh lisianthus pala tawag dun! I was attracted to the purple ones last november on my daily commute home, passed by the flower section of Farmer’s Market…and then saw them again a few weeks ago sa Market!Market!…
thanks! :D
Gladiolas that have gotten a little tired and leggy also make a refreshing arrangement when shortened
Missed the name of this one too. Never having been close to them, I just assumed they were white roses although I have always wondered about the odd stems.
I went through a period of sustained cringe once with a friend who misidentified all of the blooms we passed through in the Jardin Botanico here in Rio and thereafter resolved to look up flower names when I come accross unknown ones.
Wow, Apicio, what I would give to have a chance to go to Jardin Botanico! Have been captivated by the name and what could be seen there ever since I heard the Michael Franks song “Tiger in the Rain” that talks about being “lost” in Jardin Botanico.
I can’t not coment on this post! These were used for my bridal bouquet and it’s a great alternative to commonly used roses. I love a traditional looking bouquet. Since our wedding, my husband would always get me these (like for Valentine’s day one time and more recently flowers for my hospital room after giving birth). I was recently given pink-edged ones–are these naturally pink-edged? They look so dainty & feminine. Love it! :)
One time I was able to make the blooms last for a week. It’s that hardy. :)
they didn’t look wilted at all! nice job MM!
MM, please make an article on cabbage roses from King Louis too
:)
I once did an experiment with a rose bud that was about to wilt. I cut off more than half of its stem and put it in water with Vitamin C dissolved in it. Guess what? After 3 days, the rose bloomed! I also noticed that the bottom part of the stem got thicker and greener than the part closest to the bloom. Maybe cutting off more stem will make more nutrients available for the bloom and that’s why your lisianthus didn’t wilt immediately upon “recycling”.. :D