#### The box, opened
A well made ranunculus bunch looks looser than people expect. Heads sit at deliberately different heights, stems curve outward instead of standing to attention, and there is visible air between the buds. That is the build, not a shortage of flowers. A thin hollow stem under a heavy head will never hold a rigid dome for long, and a tight round ball of a bouquet usually means the stems have been bound hard enough to stop them drinking. Three checks cover it:
- The tie, which should sit loose enough that the stems under it are still round. - The necks, felt one by one just below each head. - The petals, held up against a window. The necks are the check that matters most. These bunches travel with the lower stems held in place, and anything that has been allowed to slide around arrives with a kink under a head or two. A kinked neck does not recover. No amount of fresh water or plant food brings that head back up, and it is better found at the door than three days later. > "Guests photograph the bouquet before they touch it, then ring the next day about one drooping head. We ask them to look at their own photo. The kink is almost always there in it."
> JFLOO florist
Handling is worth a word to whoever unpacks the box. Take the stems by the base, never by the middle, because that is where a hollow stem splits lengthways, and it splits without a sound. A bunch lifted out correctly once and then left alone survives the week. Bruising shows differently on this flower than on a rose. The petals are thin and there are a great many of them, so a knock leaves a translucent patch instead of a brown edge, and the patch is easiest to see with the head lifted towards the light. 
#### Who these are a good idea for
Someone who likes flowers and has no interest in fussing over them. That is the honest answer, and it covers most of the people we send them to here. The bunch asks for a cool corner, shallow water changed every other day, and nothing else. There is no feeding schedule, no stem searing, no daily rearranging. Everything interesting it does, it does on its own: the tight apricot sized ball widens, the dark centre appears, the colour lightens as the outer petals fold back. For a villa order that matters more than it sounds. Guests are out most of the day, staff have plenty to do, and a flower that needs attention every morning will not get it. Tell us which room the vase will stand in when you order ranunculus bouquets in Bali. A cooled bedroom and an open terrace are two different bouquets, and we would rather cut the bud stage to the room than send the same bunch to both.