Hydrangea problems for a wedding

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Joe Mioux

Joe Mioux

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Dec 15, 2004
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MY manager dropped this little bombshell on me today.

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I need to find these hydrangeas.. We added up the totals, we need 300.

and the bride does not want to spend $20 per flower.

Wedding is Sept 22, one of four that weekend.

and this isn't the largest one.

I need to find some large purple, indigon blue, burgundyish hydrangeas that can retail out for about $5.

Can anyone help with this one!

thanks
Joe
 
Try buying the cheap ones and tinting them to look like antique hydrangea. I have done this in the past and they come out fabulous. The key is to lightly mist 4 colors without making the paint solid. I would use delphinium blue, basil green, i forget the purple and burgundyuse the darker colors first then the lighter until you get the effect that you like....Otherwise the 6-10 hydrangeas are all you will get...
 
Joe, I think you can get hydrangea that you can retail for $5 from Flower Buyer. Then I'd use Just for Flowers. I know that the colors that are in that bouquet would be a special order from my local wholesalers, and they would be pricey.

I just checked the Sept. 19 auction, and the starting price for a box of mixed hydrangeas is $1.36 ST. Good luck!
 
CHR said:
Joe, I'm seeing those colors on the market right now for $3.50/st or less here. Have you tried Mayesh?

Have not purchased direct from these growers, but they also produce their own hydrangeas:
http://www.greenvalleygrower.com/ (CA)
http://www.oregonflowers.com/Availability List.htm (OR)

HTH
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Thanks Cathy, I will give these people a go. Who is Mayesh?

Flowerbuyer dutch auction have them, but there starting price is $5.87 plus.

Regular auction only has the smaller kinds.

I really don't want to spray 300 hydrangeas if I can help it.

If this wedding was 6 months from now, I would have been sitting pretty with my own hydrangeas. The hydrangeas in the picture, of course are far from colored up.
 

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Oh so fabu!!

Flower buyer, but also, if you are using these for the girls be careful on the spraying, a trick that we use to keep them from wilting, is when you get them put in fridge, don't cut at all, just lay them on a shelf or even in the box they came in, then a day later cut and put in hot hot water, with some vodka, that will harden them up for you, did the week before when it was well way over 98 here, for out door wedding didn't loose any of them, also you could try June.com

Hope this helps some.
 
I am curious as when this bomshell fell on your lap?
When did the bride place the order?
What kind of talk did you have with your manager afterwords?
Sometime I get the feeling that my staff thinks I am a magician.
Like this week...can you get fresh pussy willow this week....2 days before a funeral.
Luc
 
Luc said:
I am curious as when this bomshell fell on your lap?
When did the bride place the order?
What kind of talk did you have with your manager afterwords?
Sometime I get the feeling that my staff thinks I am a magician.
Like this week...can you get fresh pussy willow this week....2 days before a funeral.
Luc
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I knew we had "some" hydrangeas for this wedding, I just didn't know we needed 300. Yesterday afternoon she calls me up at 1 (branch store mgr) and tells me to go online and check out these hydrangeas.

First thought was they were airbrushed for the pic, this pic is from a wedding dress website not a flower website.

We started talking about the Sept 22 weddings, after discussing the Sept 15 weddings. She told me she needs sweetpeas for one of the weddings next week. I told her in the past that I need to know this stuff 10 days before the wedding so my wholesalers can order it on their Thurs order and Monday shipments.

Yea, Luc, there are times I think the staff thinks us buyers are magicians.

Joe

OH how I wish this was March! (reference 1200 hydrangeas waiting for wholesale in my greenhouse)
 

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Queen of Weddings said:
a trick that we use to keep them from wilting, is when you get them put in fridge, don't cut at all, just lay them on a shelf or even in the box they came in, then a day later cut and put in hot hot water, with some vodka, that will harden them up for you, did the week before when it was well way over 98 here, for out door wedding didn't loose any of them
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Now tell me how anyone would have thought to even try this trick?? Must not have been much vodka left in the bottle when they were experimenting!:drunk:
 
Hydrangeas

A few months ago, I went into a small flower shop in a small town and they were letting me design a fresh bouquet for someone. I asked them for some preservative and they said....we don't believe in preservative. We only use vodka. I didn't stick around town to see how long their flowers lasted.

I consider myself pretty much up on care and handling and even teach it to a degree to other shops and from the stage. I have attended so many technical workshops on this subject and even passed hard tests on this issue. But, I have never been exposed to the vodka theory. I am interested in hearing from an expert on this subject.....not, just someone that is only using it because some unqualified person told them it worked. . Does anyone have any scientific information on if this does work? I am truly interested in the answer.
Carol Bice
 
for 20 years now..

Carol Bice said:
A few months ago, I went into a small flower shop in a small town and they were letting me design a fresh bouquet for someone. I asked them for some preservative and they said....we don't believe in preservative. We only use vodka. I didn't stick around town to see how long their flowers lasted.

I consider myself pretty much up on care and handling and even teach it to a degree to other shops and from the stage. I have attended so many technical workshops on this subject and even passed hard tests on this issue. But, I have never been exposed to the vodka theory. I am interested in hearing from an expert on this subject.....not, just someone that is only using it because some unqualified person told them it worked. . Does anyone have any scientific information on if this does work? I am truly interested in the answer.
Carol Bice
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My MiMi started a store in 1942 and the other one was a farmer, they told us to use this because it kills the bacteria in the flowers, also keeps the nitrogen in the stem as well, it does work, I have done this since since , I was a child, and it works for me, also keeps the water clear, but the water must be hot so that the head of the flowers don't droop, I use this only in Hydragea, Aggies, also in the heat and it works for us.
 
Joe Mioux said:
MY manager dropped this little bombshell on me today.

Img817189.jpg


I need to find these hydrangeas.. We added up the totals, we need 300.

and the bride does not want to spend $20 per flower.

Wedding is Sept 22, one of four that weekend.

and this isn't the largest one.

I need to find some large purple, indigon blue, burgundyish hydrangeas that can retail out for about $5.

Can anyone help with this one!

thanks
Joe
Click to expand...

Joe Not sure if this will work BUT I work a high end bridal store for years see where the bride bought that dress(or what site she got that pic) look up on the internet,lets say it's a watters and watters. the company puts out a maids book and in it some where it will have who designed the flowers call them up(florist) and ask them who supplied them. It's worth a try.If you need help let me know I have connections in the wedding dress industry..~Tracy
 
Joe, If nothing else - There is the Design Master Just for Flowers spray tint line that can help to adjust the hydrangea color to your needs.

Also, I cannot recall everything she siad, but at a recent SC Teleflora Unit meeting that I attended, The presenter, Susan Overton-Ayala AIFD gave us a tip that would hold a hydrangea for up to three weeks.
I know that part of it had to do with extrmely hot water........Perhaps Carol, CHR, or another of our AIFD members on FC can contact Susan and post this information for all of us.
 
Thanks for answering, Queen. How does this method compare to using preservative in hydrangeas and other flowers. I can see how it might kill the bacteria...but, does it also give it a source of food from the sugar in the vodka? Have you done tests to see if the hydrangeas last longer with this method over using a good preservative? Would it be cost effective compared to commercial preservative ?

What dosage would you use? Are you tempted to have a little drink yourself when processing the flowers?

Carol Bice
 
Just a thought, but could it be that the photographer for the photo shoot used SILK hydrangeas, and not fresh ones??? Indigo and such a dark purple don't seem to be realistic.... Sometimes what brides want is just not available in the REAL world!
 
Here is my findings on this.

Carol Bice said:
Thanks for answering, Queen. How does this method compare to using preservative in hydrangeas and other flowers. I can see how it might kill the bacteria...but, does it also give it a source of food from the sugar in the vodka? Have you done tests to see if the hydrangeas last longer with this method over using a good preservative? Would it be cost effective compared to commercial preservative ?

What dosage would you use? Are you tempted to have a little drink yourself when processing the flowers?

Carol Bice
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Well you can by a half gallon of VOdka for as little as 3.99 that is alot, I have done many tests, I do tests on all flowers that I use as well as different growers, as well, Here is a prime example of lasting, back in July we did a wedding of all hydragea, in 12 in bubble bowls in an outdoor tent, then the ceromony was out side as well, I always tell the bride, this may go south fast, but I did the same way as usual, and she didn't loose one flower on the tables or the girls as well,but the bride inside the hotel's was wilty as can be, so her florist came and asked my bride where hers came from, she told them they were alittle drunk from the vodka used in the, here is what I use, a 5by5 square vase, I use in the hot water that of one tablespoon, there are many methods of doing flowers that make them hold up better, Flower care is very important, I know some places use bleach in all of there flowers, I can't use that because it makes the QUeen very ill.....and No I don't drink on the job, also I lover more expensive vodka, also my customers are always sending bottle's to us, so I haven't spent any money in a while on this, Try to see what happens, if you do this, That is just my 2 cents, on this
 
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