45 Roses in Bali

45 roses in Bali: the drive, the wait, and the case for two vessels

Seminyak, Canggu and Sanur come in at 90 to 150 minutes. Uluwatu, Tabanan and remote villas run up to 3 to 4 hours, and above 30 °C in high humidity we use firm wrapping and a cooling element for exactly that reason. A bunch of forty-five arrives at the end of a drive like that with a lot of thirst to make up, and what it goes into decides whether it manages.

The catalogue starts at 650000 IDR, and payment goes through QRIS, GoPay, OVO, DANA or cash to the courier.

"On the long runs we ask the house to have a bucket ready. A bucket with water already in it beats the prettiest vase somebody still has to go and find."

— JFLOO florist

Why two vessels beat one narrow one

The bundle at the binding point is thicker than a wrist, and not every villa or apartment owns a neck wide enough for it. Forcing it in crushes the outer stems and stops them drinking, and the damage stays invisible for two days because the outside of the dome still looks healthy.

Divided in half, the same count still reads as a large gift. Every stem gets water. The flowers can also stand in two rooms, which on a villa with a long terrace is worth more than it sounds.

Splitting is worth deciding before the delivery rather than at the gate. Somebody holding forty-five stems and a phone is not going to run a conversation about vases, and the flowers spend that conversation out of water.

• A wide bucket, even an ugly one, if the delivery lands while nobody is home.
• Two vessels instead of one, when the only vase in the house has a narrow neck.
• The cool side of the house for the first few hours, before anything gets arranged.

Standing, not lying flat

If the person receiving them is out for the day, ask for the bunch to be left standing in water instead of lying flat in a box. Stems lying on their side curve upward within hours as the heads reach for the light, and that bend does not straighten out once the flowers are in a vase.

The same applies to a car seat. A bunch laid flat across a back seat for the last leg picks up the same curve. On this island that last leg is often the one the recipient drives themselves, from a venue in Jimbaran or a restaurant in Seminyak back to wherever they are staying.

That is a real risk here. A villa in Uluwatu or Tabanan sits at the far end of a 3 to 4 hour run. The courier cannot wait at the gate indefinitely. A bunch left upright in a bucket and one left flat on a terrace look different by the same evening. The next morning only one of them is still worth the count that was ordered.

Deliveries run from 9 AM to 10 PM.

Berawa, Kuta, Legian and Nusa Dua are the easy end of the map. The run is short and the flowers spend less time wrapped. There the choice of vessel goes back to being a matter of taste.

The rainy season from November to March adds its own version of the problem. A box left on an open terrace takes water, the card goes soft and the collar loses shape, so in those months we agree an indoor spot in advance or hold the run until somebody is there.

Ordering 45 roses in Bali for a villa, a resort address in Seminyak or a dinner in Ubud, tell us who will be at the gate. Tell us what the flowers can stand in until the evening. On the long runs those two answers do more for the bouquet than anything we can build into it.