Roses for indoors
The traditional roses for picking are hybrid tea varieties but these days, gardens are more likely to be filled with ‘My Granny’ roses, which produce beautiful trusses of flowers that cascade out of the vase. Make the most of the abundant roses in bloom now – even if it means making informal arrangements, floating the blooms in a bowl of water, or simply using a row of beautiful bottles each showing off a single stemmed rose.
Picking tips
• Blooms can be picked at any time of the day as long as the bottom end of the stem is placed in a little water in a bucket immediately after cutting. This stops air being sucked up in the stem; trapped air prevents water being drawn up, which causes the roses to wilt. • Do not pick too many blooms too often from a single bush as this can lead to root stress. To be on the safe side, don’t pick more than 50% of the blooms on a bush over a period of a week. • Flowering stems are usually produced as a ‘fork’. Cut the outer-facing stem about halfway down and cut the inside stem of the fork close to the main stem. This leaves sufficient foliage as well as good quality blooms for the next flush of flowers. • When enough roses have been picked, fill the bucket with water and put it in a cool, dark place, preferably overnight. Once the stems and most of the leaves are saturated with water, they can be arranged.
In the vase
• The final cut for the vase must be a long-slanted cut. The bigger the wound, the more water the stems take up. • Always strip off any leaves that will be below the level of the water in the vase as they encourage the formation of algae which blocks water uptake. • Get the balance right – the length of the flower stem should not be more than double the height of the vase. • Chrysal flower food is better than vinegar and sugar for extending the life of blooms. • Change the water every 2–3 days if no Chrysal was added to the vase.