### Orchid bouquets in Phuket: built stem by stem, delivered by window Most cut flowers are gathered in the hand, turned, tied and trimmed flat across the bottom. An orchid spray will not be handled that way. The stem is thin and arching and it carries its blooms down one side, so spiralling it into a round bunch leaves half the flowers pointing at the wall. The build therefore starts from the individual stem. Each spray gets read before it goes anywhere: which way the arch runs, which face the open blooms sit on, how far the bare tip reaches past the last full flower. Then the sprays go in so that the arches run outward from one binding point and the blooms land in tiers. Thai orchids do most of the work in these bouquets. They are the material we see fresh and often, and a florist who handles the same spray every week learns which way it wants to sit without thinking about it. Density is where a rushed bouquet gives itself away. Orchid blooms are large and slightly waxy, and pressed shoulder to shoulder they lose the space around each flower, which is the whole reason anyone chose them. #### Getting it to the address The west coast runs on a 90 to 180 minute window, and that covers Patong, Kata, Karon, Kamala, Surin and Bang Tao, with Rawai, Chalong, Phuket Town and Mai Khao on the same board. Villas, marinas and airport routes each get a separate window, because none of the three is a door a courier can simply knock on. From May to October the showers arrive and the hill roads slow down in the evening. We add route time for both when the order is booked, which is a duller answer than promising the same drive in all weather and a more honest one. Four kinds of address cover almost everything we deliver: - A villa. Send the villa name and the person who will open the gate. - A marina. The box has to meet a departure time, so that slot gets agreed when the order goes in, and a boat that leaves early leaves without the flowers on board. - The airport. The box travels closed all the way and gets opened in the car afterwards. - A resort room. Built in the morning, delivered ahead of check in, standing before the guest has the key. Resort birthdays, anniversaries and dinners by the sea account for most of what goes out. Small weddings order differently: the work is built ahead of the day and has to hold through it, which pushes the choice towards orchids and tropical foliage and away from anything that needs a cool room. #### Where it stands afterwards Air conditioning is the one real hazard on this island. The petal is thin, a steady cold stream dries it from the edge, and the damage shows as a glassy patch that goes brown and stays that way. A spot deep in the room, clear of the vent and the fan, is worth more to the flower than any feeding sachet. Ordering runs 9 AM to 10 PM, catalogue prices start at 2200 THB, and payment goes by bank card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PromptPay, bank transfer or cash to the courier in THB. > "People ask why the bouquet looks emptier than the photo on the phone. It is the same flower count. The gaps are the work." > JFLOO florist One habit worth passing to whoever opens the box. Lift the arrangement out by the binding point, stand it in water, and take the wrap off last. An orchid spray pulled out by the flower end reaches the vase with a kink under one head, and that head does not come back up.