Lily bouquets: flowers that arrive shut
Lilies are cut and sold in bud. What reaches the door is a set of tall green stems with tight, pale, cigar-shaped buds along the top, and almost none of them will be open on the day.
This catches people out more often than any other property of the flower.
The timetable
The lowest bud on a stem opens first, usually a day or two after delivery, and the rest follow upwards one at a time. The last bud on the same stem may wait the better part of a week for its turn.
Order with a few days in hand when the flowers have to look open on a particular evening. There is no reliable way to hurry a lily along; warm water and a radiator nearby will speed it up and cost you most of the vase life in exchange.
The staggered opening is also why the format lasts. A rose bouquet peaks and then declines, whereas a lily bouquet replaces each finished bloom with the next one up the stem, and the arrangement keeps producing new flowers for longer than most cut material.
Remove each bloom once it collapses. A limp flower next to a fresh one ages the whole bunch by association.
Pollen
Open lilies carry heavy anthers on long filaments above the petals. The pollen on them is orange, greasy and behaves like a dye: on a tablecloth or a dress it does not come out in a normal wash.
Florists snip the anthers off with small scissors as soon as a flower opens. Blooms already open when the bouquet is built are dealt with in the workshop, but the buds that open later at home are yours to handle.
Never rub a spill or reach for water. Lift the powder with sticky tape, or shake the fabric out while it hangs free, since damp turns loose pollen into a stain.
Scent, and the rooms it suits
Most scented varieties are strong. The smell fills a flat within half an hour and stays for as long as the flowers are open, which is welcome in a hall or a large sitting room and oppressive in a small bedroom.
Keep the vase off the dining table as well. Sweet floral scent argues with food, and a side console solves it.
Cats
Lilies are toxic to cats, and every part of the plant counts, including the pollen and the water in the vase. A single grain licked off the coat is enough to do serious harm.
Putting the vase up high is not a solution, because cats reach shelves and pollen settles on furniture anyway. If there is a cat in the house, choose something else and ask about pets before you order.
Water and stems
Lily stems are thick, fleshy and thirsty, so the level in the vase drops visibly and wants checking daily. Change the water every second day, cut the stems at an angle with a knife, and strip the leaves that would otherwise sit below the surface and rot. Nothing beyond that is required of the recipient in Nicosia, and a lily bouquet given this much attention outlasts most of what stands beside it.
