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The Cutting Garden

Butterfly Bush vase life

12 years ago

I am providing buckets of flowers for a wedding in three weeks. The bride wants alot of white butterfly bush. (I have used butterfly bush in the past for wedding....awesome!) Unfortunately she wants the flowers delivered on Thursday morning. I have never had butterfly bush last much longer than a few days and want to make sure they are going to last at least through Sunday. At this time my method is to use very clean buckets with just a splash of bleach in the water. I am going to give the EZ DOse Floralife a try today and see how it goes. Any other ideas?

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Comments (3)

diggerdee zone 6 CT
12 years ago
I just consulted my Specialty Cut Flowers book by Armitage and Laushman, and unfortunately the first thing that hit me was "white flowers decline more rapidly than other colors". Not too promising.

To be honest, from what I'm reading there doesn't seem to be a firm consensus, from cutting to preserving. The book says "Proper stage of harvest is critical but debatable" and goes on to say that you should cut when 1/2 the flowers are open but before open flowers start to fade. It also says the "stems must be hydrated with a hydrating solution, and that conditioning using warm water has been suggested. If the panicles are not turgid by the time the water cools, place stems in hot water a second time; 2 to 3 changes may be necessary for thorough conditioning."

It continues that "fresh flowers persist only 2-3 days if poorly conditioned, but persist 7-10 days if properly conditioned." It lists what several farmers do; if you want, e-mail me and I can transcribe that information for you.

Good luck!
Dee
tommyk
12 years ago
I have never had good luck with Buddleia as a cutflower lasting more than a couple days. I've tried smashing the stems and plunging into hot water water and floral preservative but nothing has worked. I do love the flowers and they are highly fragrant. I use them in the house but don't include them in any bouquets for the Farmers' Market.
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I wonder how long Evelyn lasts in a vase? Fragrancenutter cuts some beauties, so I'm hoping she will chime in. (Or anyone else who grows Evelyn. I find that Darcy Brussel lasts about 4 days if cut in the bud stage. Not too bad, but nowhere near as long as some non DA's. My Mary roses don't last long, maybe 2 days. Here, they also shatter off the bush pretty quickly. I haven't had many blooms from Alnwick yet, but they do last longer than Mary when cut. Maybe about 4 days like Darcy. I sure notice that they go downhill fast when it's warm in the house. When I run the A/C they last longer. Lisa
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bfff_tx
12 years ago
If I recall, I've had luck with them in the past. They are not a major crop for me, just have a few shrubs 'Dark Purple' in my front yard and have cut on them. I think it's best to cut them quite early, just as the first of the lower flowers are opening. I cut into plain water, then cut again into preservative and into the cooler they go.
You have several weeks, make notes and do some experimenting with post harvest techniques and see what works best. Try with cold water, warm water and hot water and test your vase life.
@ TommyK - These days, it is not recommended to smash the stems of woodies, your actually damaging the stem and decrease it's ability of water absorbtion.
Cheers Kim
Billabong Fresh Flower Farm
Good luck
Kim - Billabong Fresh Flower Farm

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