One hundred and one peonies in Phuket: pricing the alternatives first
A smaller count of larger, more advanced heads often photographs almost as well and behaves far better once it is indoors. Head size varies a lot between varieties and between seasons, and a well grown open peony covers considerably more space than a tight one.
That is the first alternative worth pricing.
Head size deserves one more sentence, because it is where most of the disappointment lives. Two orders of the same count can look completely different depending on how far the heads have opened, and a catalogue photograph is always of the good version.
Splitting the order is the second. Several medium bouquets to different people, or one bouquet and a plant, spread the same outlay across more than one moment. For a group travelling together that often reads better than a single object standing in one room.
Timing is the third. Peonies here are seasonal, so the same money goes further while they are in, and out of season the count has to be filled with imported stock.
Orders start from 2200 THB, payment goes by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PromptPay, bank transfer or cash in baht, and deliveries run 9 AM to 10 PM.
"We price two versions of this order before anyone commits. The larger one is not always the one people choose."
— JFLOO florist
What the road adds to the decision
Along the west coast, from Patong and Kata to Kamala, Surin and Bang Tao, the run takes 90 to 180 minutes. Villas, marinas and airport routes have windows of their own. A bouquet at this count travels alone, because it fills a vehicle. During monsoon showers from May to October and on the hill roads in the evening we add route time. Every added hour is spent by flowers that were graded for a particular day.
Air here sits between 25 and 33 °C with high humidity, which speeds a peony up. Tight buds for a date a day or two out, open heads only for the same evening: that is the whole of the timing rule, and it weighs more at this count than at any smaller one.
A small wedding is the one occasion here where the full count usually earns its price. The bouquet is placed once, seen by everybody and photographed, and none of the carrying problems repeat through the day.
Three things we ask before quoting.
- Which day, and whether it can move.
- Where the bouquet stands after the handover.
- Whether the budget is fixed or the count is.
The last question is the useful one. If the budget is fixed we can put it into fewer, larger heads, and if the count is fixed we tell you what the consignment costs that week.
If you do order it
Ask for a single colour or two close shades, because mixed palettes at this volume break the dome into patches.
A bucket needs to be ready before it arrives. A bouquet of this size goes into water whole and still tied, and no vase in a hotel room or a villa kitchen will take it.
Somebody has to meet the courier. Nobody carries this up steps and opens a gate at the same time. Many villa addresses end with steps.
Peonies at this count hold for a few days and then drop petals in quantity, exactly as nine of them would. Say which day matters and how much room waits at the other end, and we will tell you whether one hundred and one is the right answer or whether the money does more work split up.
