These ‘Esperance’ roses were sent to me a few days before Thanksgiving, and here it is December 12 and they haven’t shed a single petal. Isn’t that a bit much? Shouldn’t flowers die eventually?
They’re open and lush and maybe leaning slightly towards wilted, but the fact is that it’s been three weeks (that’s right, three weeks) and they still look great.
What have I done to make this happen? Not much. I cut the stems when they arrived and put them in some water with some flower food. A few days later, I added some more water to the vase. I’ve done nothing since then. I haven’t even checked to see if they have water.
One major advantage these flowers have is that they are sitting on my hall table in a part of the house that we never heat. It gets down to a nice chilly 50 degrees at night, and during the day it rarely gets above 60, in this hallway. The cool temps have probably helped the flowers survive, but mostly they’re just fabulous roses.
You can’t see it in the photo, but they’re actually a tricolor rose, with pale green at the base, then cream, then pink along the tips of the petals. They’re grown at Nevado Ecuador, one of the farms I visited when I was researching Flower Confidential, and sold through Organic Bouquet under the name ‘Crown Majesty.’ Recently I’ve started seeing them in supermarkets, too. Most florists can probably get them in their shops. (ask for ‘Esperance.’)
So: Gorgeous flower, extremely long-lived. I actually am starting to get sick of them, but I can’t bear to toss them on the compost pile. So much for the idea that it’s not worth spending your money on flowers if they’re just going to die anyway!