Lasting Quality: have a vase life of 7 days. Avoid buying flowers with yellowing or transparent leaves; these are signs of ethylene damage
Design Techniques: Larkspur adds a sense of lightness and country charm to any arrangement.Stems can grow to nearly 5 feet tall, making them perfect as a filler flower or a tall backdrop for other flowers. All parts of the plant are poisonous,and should be kept away from small children and pets. In fact, when larkspurs were first cultivated at the time of the pharaohs, they were used as a remedy for ridding oneself of body vermin.
Preservation Quality: Larkspurs dry well. Select stems for drying with fully open flower spikes
How Packaged: grower's bunch
Size: Clusters of .5"- 1" florets on spike stems average of 24" - 36" long, but stems can grow to nearly 5 feet tall Available colors: Larkspur can be found in striking shades of blue, lavender, pink and white. Stems can grow to nearly 5 feet tall, making them perfect as a filler flower or a tall backdrop for other flowers.
When you purchase fresh flowers in bulk...They come to you just as the Florist receives them, and they usually don't look like the ones in the Florist's cooler
Your Florist may go through several bunches to select the "Right flowers" for a specific arrangement
As a Florist for over 25 years, I believe each flower is beautiful and has a place somewhere in your flower arranging plans - the bouquet, corsages, cake flowers...
Enjoy your flowers!
You have purchased fresh flowers in bulk...
They come to you just as the Florist receives them, and they usually don't look like the ones in the Florist's cooler. Your Florist may go through several bunches to select the "Right flower" for the arrangement. As a Florist for over 20 years, I believe each flower is beautiful and has a place somewhere in your flower arranging.
Enjoy your flowers!
Priscilla
The HOW TO SHEET... Prepare & Care for Freshly Cut Bulk LARKSPUR
bulk flowers are cut and shipped directly from the grower or distributor to your door overnight. They come to you just as a Florist receives them:
- Dry cut
- Packed tight
- Blooms vary within bunch
- Sometimes a bloom or two is broken off within a bunch
- By buying "in bulk" you do the work the Florist must do to get your Field Packed flowers to look like the ones they sell in their shops, saving you money!
When Your Flowers Arrive, You Need To:
- Remove the plastic sleeve from the bunch
- Remove the rubber band or twisty-tie from the bunch
- Now you can work on one stem at a time
For Each LARKSPUR You MUST:
- Remove the leaves from the bottom of the stem so they won't be submerged under water--the leaves carry bacteria and if submerged in water, the bacteria will grow and shorten the life of your flowers
- Do NOT remove too many leaves because they help support the life of your flowers, remove only what is necessary
- Cut 1 inch off the stem using a sharp knife or scissors
- Place each stem in a large container filled with 6 inches or more of warm water with a packet of flower food for every bunch (Clean trash cans work great!!)
- Keep container at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours to 'harden'** see below
- If the stems are not going to be used immediately as a hand-out or in an arrangement, you can place them in a regular refrigerator
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- CAUTION: One Rule MUST be followed!!!
- No fruit or vegetables are allowed in the refrigerator with fresh flowers
- WHY? Because fruits and veggies emit an ethylene gas that 'puts the flowers to sleep'!!-- Droopy heads are NOT pretty!
**HARDENING YOUR FLOWERS... ABOUT YOUR WATER...
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Means getting them to drink water and food immediately, since they haven't had any since the dry cut procedure in the field.
This 'hardens' / prolongs the life of the flowers to their optimum. The flower life support needs water and food constantly. They are always thirsty!!! |
Distilled or bottled water is best for your flowers. Avoid using tap water from your sink or commercial water softner. We have tested tap water in our city (we have good drinking water) and were surprised at how a flower's life differed from one part of the city to another. When we had the water analyzed, it had different concentrations of chemicals and the flower's life span was shorter than when using distilled or bottled water. |
HISTORY / LEGENDS OF THE LARKSPUR -
July birth flower
Larkspur was discovered in the mid-1800's across North America's prairie lands. It is a tall and slender flower, with a wide color range of white, blue, purple, red and various shades of green, which account for the species Latin name meaning to become green.
According to legend, during the time of the famous Gold Rush of 1849, the Crane boys, a pair of mischievous youths searching to strike it rich, began an adventure from their midwest home to the California coast. Throughout the journey across the midwestern plains, the boys encountered countless waves of poisonous snakes and other harmful species. To combat these horrific attacks, the Crane boys used tall larkspur a stout and lengthy species of the flower as a guarding device and defense tool while they rested
Larkspur
Kingdom
- Plantae
- Division
- Magnoliophyta
- Class
- Magnoliopsida
- Order
- Ranunculales
- Family
- Ranunculaceae
- Genus
- Delphinium
Baker's Larkspur (Delphinium bakeri) and Yellow Larkspur (D. luteum), native to some areas of California, are endangered species. Delphinium is a genus of about 250 species of annual, biennial or perennial flowering plants. The common name, shared with the closely related genus Consolida, is Larkspur.
Did you know? Larkspur is the flower of the month of July and its meaning denotes Fickleness.
Larkspur flowers come in a variety of colors including spikes of red, pink, violet and white. As a result of their generally similar floral structure, as well as the absence of genetic barriers to intercrossing, species of Larkspur are known to hybridize in many different combinations.
Facts About Larkspur
- Larkspur, with tall spikes, make excellent Cutflowers. Two varieties of Larkspur are ideal as cut flowers - Consolida ambigua and Consolida orientalis.
- The Larkspur Rose (Consolida ambigua) has tall spires of rose colored flowers. The 1/4 to 1/2 inch rose colored flowers are densely packed on tall stems.
- The market for quality Larkspur is robust from many years. The alluring flower shape, wide range of colors, and the appealing foliage combine to make Larkspur a popular, marketable cut flower.
- Larkspur flowers tend to be fragile and relatively short lived in the vase (under 7 days), making production for local markets more lucrative.
- Larkspur grow to their full potential in climates with cool, moist summers.
- The Larkspur plant is toxic. The stem and seeds contain alkaloids.
- Apparently, domestic sheep are not affected by the toxins in Larkspurs. So, sometimes sheep are used to help eradicate the plant on cattle range.
