Forever roses in Auckland, from one white bud under glass to nineteen red
Forever roses in Auckland come in white as a single bud under a glass dome, four or nine in clear acrylic, or nine in a velvet hat box, while nineteen in velvet come red or powder pink only. The colour sets the scale of the gift, so it helps to start choosing there rather than with the case.
A garden rose from November, a preserved one for any month
Parnell Rose Gardens hold more than 5,000 roses, flowering from November to March, with a Rose Festival in November marking the start of the season. For much of the summer local growers cover most of the demand for cut roses in the city.
A forever rose is a real rose too, cut the moment it opened rather than grown to last. Its sap is replaced with a glycerine solution, which keeps each petal soft and pliable rather than dry and brittle, as a true dried flower would be. A preserved rose stays at the stage at which it was cut for one to three years indoors. This treatment is done in Ecuador, around Cayambe and Tabacundo.
For a bouquet that lasts a week rather than years, fresh roses for the week are the straightforward choice.
White stays within one, four or nine buds; larger formats narrow to red or powder pink. A single bud sits under a glass dome, the Forever White Rose in Glass Dome, while four or nine buds fill a clear acrylic case, among them the Nine Forever White Roses in Acrylic Box. Nine buds also arrange into a velvet hat box.
Reach further and the choice narrows by colour rather than size. Nineteen buds in velvet, the Nineteen Forever Red Roses in Velvet Hat Box, come only red or powder pink. Twenty-five in acrylic are red, and so are the thirteen arranged in a heart-shaped box.
A dome can also hold three buds at once, always red or powder pink, while a single bud goes further still and comes in red, powder pink, white, purple or blue. Purple and blue rely on a dye drawn up through the stem into the solution, and both appear only as a single bud under the dome.
A case to fit the room: a desk near Queen Street or a shelf at home
A dome with one or three buds takes up barely any desk space, which suits an office near Queen Street, Britomart or Wynyard Quarter as easily as a shelf at home. The hat box opens by lifting its lid straight off, the acrylic case shows every bud at once through its clear sides, and the heart-shaped box reads instantly as a gift for two.
A forever rose stays indoors, away from direct sun, since strong light fades the colour held in the solution. Heat and damp rooms, such as a bathroom, work against it in the same way. It never needs water or misting. A soft, dry brush takes care of any dust, since wiping or washing would spoil the petals. Auckland's rain can fall in any month, as Auckland's weather and flower calendar shows.
Choosing between the four cases comes down to where the rose will stand and how many buds suit the occasion.
- A glass dome — one bud suits a small desk or a first gift.
- A clear acrylic case — four, nine or twenty-five buds suit a shelf meant to be seen.
- A velvet hat box — nine or nineteen buds suit a larger, softer gift.
- A heart-shaped box — thirteen red buds suit two people rather than one.