Article Surfing Archive

The care of fresh cut roses is best done if you cut your roses when partly opened, preferably on a sunny afternoon day. Don't cut more stem than you need (unless the plant has grown too tall), and make the cut one ' quarter inch above a five 'part leaf.

Immediately after cutting you should condition them for an hour or two before using them in an arrangement, bouquet, or corsage. This is how you do this:

1 - First wash off any soil or spray residue with warmer, not cold, water that is on the leaves and remove any lower leaves that will be below your water line in the vase.

2 - Scrap off the thorns below the leaves with a sharp knife.

3 - Make a new, sharply slanting cut at the end of the stem and scrape a little bark off the lower inch or so. This helps the roses to absorb water.

4 - Place the roses in room-temperature water. The water should be deep enough to reach up to the lower leaves.

5 - Stand container in a cool place, out of drafts, and in an hour or two the roses will be ready for use.

Roses that have wilted-either because they are not placed in water soon enough or from drafts- can usually be revived by this procedure:

Cut off the lower inch or so of the stem at a slant. Make two scrapes one to two inches long at the base. Place the scraped part in hot water- not boiling, but a little too hot to hold your hand in - and leave them in the water until the water cools. Then place them in cold water up to the base of the flowers. In about an hour they should be totally revived and strong enough for arranging.

Keep your bouquet or arrangement away from direct heat and drafts. Add water and rose food as necessary to keep the stems well immersed.

Some of the best roses for cutting are:

Dark Red Roses such as Carrousel, Chrysler Imperial, Crimson Glory, Nocturne and Miranda

Medium Red Roses such as Starfire, New Yorker and El Capitan

Light Red or Dark Pink such as Charlotte Armstrong, Montezuma, Tallyho and Red Radiance

Medium Pink such as Queen Elizabeth, Duet, Pink Favorite, Pink Peace and Show Girl

Light Pink such as First Love, Pink Princess, Picture and Radiance

Deep Yellow such as Lowell Thomas and Gold Glow

Medium Yellow such as Eclipse, Burnaby, Buccaneer and King's
Ransom

Light Yellow like McGredy's Yellow

White such as White Knight, June Bride, White Queen and Pedralbes

Orange and Orange Blend such as McGredy's Sunset, Mrs. Sam McGredy, Mojave, Aztec and Hawaii

Apricot Blend like Paramount

Yellow Blend such as Peace, Garden Party, Sutter's Gold and Lady Elgin

Pink Blend such as Tiffany, President Herbert Hoover, Mission Bells, Confidence and Good News

There are several others. You should check at your local gardening center to find which grow best in your climate.

The care of fresh cut roses is not hard to do and very rewarding.