Care & Handling

The team at David Austin Wedding Roses is pleased to share a new video, From Bud to Open Bloom, which in addition to featuring glorious English garden roses and floral designs, also includes care and handling tips.

Prefer to read instead of watching the video: click here for a downloadable and printable care brochure.

We ship your Wedding Rose order directly from the Rose Farm near Bogota to ensure the best quality roses and longer vase life. These Wedding Roses are only traveling for 48 hours and are cut in a tight bud stage. Here are a few things you need to know.

Upon arrival your Wedding Roses may appear small and they will be thirsty after their journey, it is absolutely NORMAL. Please follow these simple flower care steps and the flowers will bloom delightfully:

  • Use clean containers or vases with at least 5 inches of fresh, cool water.
  • Add floral food ( we provide) to prevent bacteria from forming in the water and to give added nutrients to the Roses.
  • Remove any leaves that fall below the water line. Not removing the leaves may cause bacteria to form and shorten the Rose’s life.
  • Using sharp scissors or a knife, cut the stems approximately one inch on an angle from each from bottom.
  • Immediately after cutting, place the stems in the prepared water.
  • Allow flowers at least 6 hours to hydrate well. Garden roses may take up to 12 hours to properly hydrate. When you receive the flowers dry in a box, leave the plastic or cardboard packaging around the blooms for a minimum of 4 hours. This will allow the Roses sufficient time to hydrate properly.
  • To keep the garden roses fresh, change water every 24 to 48 hours or when the water becomes cloudy and always clean the container or vase with a detergent or Chlorine.
  • The flowers will drink an exceptionally large amount of water upon arrival.

If you are not used to buying garden roses, some varieties can look different from what you might expect. Some roses can show signs of dehydration or might show some damaged outer petals. The bright colors are most susceptible to discoloration of the outer petals. We ship our garden roses with guard petals in order to protect the blooms during shipping. Upon removal of the protective packaging, remove any brown or discolored guard petals. It is not uncommon to remove an average of 5 to 10 petals per bloom.

Please keep flowers away from direct sunlight, drafts or excessive heat. Remember that exposing garden roses to warmer environments (outside, a hot room, etc.) will help the flower bloom, and holding your roses in a cooler environment will slow down the opening process. If you use a refrigerator make sure there are not fruits or vegetables in at the same time due to ethylene gas that they produce and this will shorten the vase life of flowers.