Help! How to transport cut roses long distance

[yoopermom]

I love DH, but he just doesn't "think" sometimes! He just brought me home a dozen red roses for Christmas, and we leave early in the am on a 4 hr car ride, and it's below freezing outside (although not in the car, obviously). So which of the following do I do?
1)leave them at home (we'll be home late on Monday, will they be "blown" by then?)
2)transport them in the car somehow (how?!?)
3)transport them in a cooler in the trunk (we're bringing cheese/sausage/ other stuff in it, so there would be room)

If you choose 2 or 3, tell me how to wrap the cut part to keep it damp, please!

I left them in the plastic that goes over the top, and just put them in a vase of water for tonight.

Help!

TIA!

Terri

 

[The Mystery Machine]

You could wrap them in very wet paper towels for the car ride and then stick them in the cooler.

Put the ends in the wet paper towels, put a ziplock bag, put on a rubber band.

When you reach your destination, cut the ends off, and then put them in the vase.

 

[CowboyCO]

20 year florist here. You can easily transport them out of water. It is more important to keep them cool. Damp paper towels won't help the roses drink anyway - the ends will close within 2-3 minutes. Wrap them up and then wrap them again with a couple of ziplock bags of ice. When you get home, recut the stems UNDERWATER, with a sharp knife, not scissors. Then transfer to a vase of prepared water with preservative. If any heads begin to droop due to dehydration, runt water in the tub and lay ther ose flat underwater and recut the stem. Pin the rose down underwater and leave it for 15-3- minutes until it strengthens and transfer it to the vase.

 

[yoopermom]

20 year florist here. You can easily transport them out of water. It is more important to keep them cool. Damp paper towels won't help the roses drink anyway - the ends will close within 2-3 minutes. Wrap them up and then wrap them again with a couple of ziplock bags of ice. When you get home, recut the stems UNDERWATER, with a sharp knife, not scissors. Then transfer to a vase of prepared water with preservative. If any heads begin to droop due to dehydration, runt water in the tub and lay ther ose flat underwater and recut the stem. Pin the rose down underwater and leave it for 15-3- minutes until it strengthens and transfer it to the vase.

So, at the risk of sounding exceedingly blond , by "keep them cool" you mean in the cooler in the trunk? In the car itself it would be 70 due to the humans in it. Do I wrap just the stems in a ziploc of ice, or surround the entire thing of roses with bags of ice? I'm sorry for my dumb, dumb questions!

Terri

 

[CowboyCO]

So, at the risk of sounding exceedingly blond , by "keep them cool" you mean in the cooler in the trunk? In the car itself it would be 70 due to the humans in it. Do I wrap just the stems in a ziploc of ice, or surround the entire thing of roses with bags of ice? I'm sorry for my dumb, dumb questions!

Terri

If it is below freezing, do not leave them in the trunk. If you have a cooler big enough, that would be great. The ice just slows down the metabolism of the rose. If you can - wrap the roses to protect them from the ice, and then wrap the whole thing again over the ice and roses to create an "atmosphere that will have a lower surrounding temperature. Roses are shipped from Ecuador and are out of water for as long as 2-3 days. It's called a Holland Dutch Pack because they figured out how to ship roses. You essentially put them to sleep and wake them up later...

 

[yoopermom]

Thanks so much, both of you! I'm setting my alarm clock half an hour earlier just to prepare these flowers! I really, really love DH, but for a man who only buys me flowers a few times a year, he often seems to do so right when we're going somewhere. Now I'll know how to handle it at least (although pinning them down underwater in the tub kind of sounds like a horror movie ).

Thanks again!!!

Terri