Baskets with carnations in Phuket: the week after the delivery
Carnations outlast almost everything else that can be put into foam, which produces an unusual situation. The arrangement generally stops looking good for a reason that has nothing to do with the flowers in it: the block underneath them dries out first.
That single fact is most of what a recipient needs to know.
Water goes in from the top, poured slowly at the edge of the block until it stops accepting any, and the block gets judged by touch rather than by eye. Damp foam springs back under a fingertip. Dry foam crumbles, and once it has gone that far it takes water back reluctantly, which is the point where days start disappearing off the end of the arrangement.
"People water the flowers. The block is the thing that needs the attention, and nobody looks at it until the heads start going."
— JFLOO florist
Three habits cover the whole of the care:
- Pour at the rim once a day, slowly, until the block stops taking it.
- Pull spent heads out with their stems and cover the socket with a leaf, since that hole no longer holds water for a new flower.
- Keep the basket out of direct sun and away from a stream of cold air, which are the two things that empty a block faster than the flowers do.
The local climate is kinder here than most. Humid air at 25 to 33 °C means the block loses water slowly, so a basket left in a room with the doors open behaves better than the same arrangement would in a dry, air conditioned space. A room cooled hard all day is the harder posting of the two, and it is worth moving the basket a metre away from the vent rather than watering it twice as often.
Carnations themselves are indifferent to the weather. The leaf is narrow and waxy, the evaporating surface is small, and the flower loses very little to the air whatever the air is doing. In a mixed basket it usually ends up as the last thing standing, still holding its shape after the softer material has been picked out.
If the whole basket is carnations, its life runs to the life of the block and no further.
A mixed basket therefore ages in an unusual sequence. The softer material is picked out over the first week, one head at a time, and the arrangement thins without changing shape, because the outline was set by the seating rather than by any individual flower. By the time only the carnations are left it looks sparser than it did on day one and still looks composed, which is the reason people keep these baskets several days longer than they expected to.
Getting one across the island
Along the west coast a basket takes 90 to 180 minutes, which covers Patong, Kata, Karon and Kamala along with Phuket Town, Rawai and Chalong. Villas, marinas and airport routes run on separate windows, because the approach at the end of those trips is often longer than the drive. From May to October the rain adds time, and the hill roads add more of it in the evening, so we build that into the slot instead of quoting the same figure all year.
We deliver from 9 AM to 10 PM. Orders start at 2200 THB, and payment goes by bank card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PromptPay, bank transfer or cash to the courier in baht.
Thai orchids and chrysanthemums go into these arrangements when a second texture is wanted beside the dense carnation head, imported roses supply the large single blooms, and tropical foliage holds the rim long after the fresh material has finished. Baskets with carnations in Phuket are the format to choose when the recipient will be away from the address for part of the week, since the arrangement asks for one pour a day and nothing else at all.
