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Emerged Flowers! What Would You Do? (Forums : Flower Care : Emerged Flowers! What Would You Do?)
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Aug 3 2008, 12:05am
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A friend of mine is getting married. They have their own vases, they are big, and would like flowers emerged in water. They don't want them floating but actually emerged in a pale colour.
I myself have never emerged flowers in water before any suggestions please?
Maybe floating candles on top to keep the flowers in water? How could I connect the flowers at different levels in the glass vases? Any ideas or is a good idea but not practical! What are the best flowers to be emerged for over six hours?
James
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Aug 3 2008, 12:24am
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Fishing line?
Should be almost invisible under water and you only need a small weight to anchor it
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Aug 5 2008, 2:17pm
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Singapore or cymbidium orchids are great to emerge in water, I would steer clear of things like lillies and lisianthus as they tend to go transparent after time, other flowers such as anthuriums, calla lillies, tropical flowers such as heliconias, crab claws, sexy pinks, lotus pods, bird of paradise, tropical leaves are also great!
This is a great website to view if you are looking for inspiration for emerging flowers www.inwater.uk.com :D
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Aug 5 2008, 5:17pm
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I have done some cymbidiums orchids emerged in large vases with pebbles at the bottom of the vase for the stems to hold and a bit of decoration with some floating candles on top for a small function table centrepiece. Can use decorative cut glass instead of the pebbles and other flowers including the tropicals as Jacinta mentioned.
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Aug 7 2008, 9:16am
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Thanks will pass on suggestions! Thanks for the web site Jacinta too.
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Aug 7 2008, 7:23pm
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I have immersed singapore orchids in a tall vase with great success. I just made sure the stems were firmly wedged between the stones used in the bottom of the vase. Perhaps for a wedding, you could wire the bottom of the stem of orchid and splay out each side of the wire so as to have more of an anchor effect, therefore having less chance of the whole stem of orchid drifting to the top of the vase and spoiling the arrangement. In our shop, we have floated singa's in a very big glass bowl full of water, also with great success, for over a week.
Getting off the subject a bit, we originally laid a bunch of tulips in the said bowl of water and they poked their heads out of the water with the stems curving around the inside of the bowl. Looked stunning and lasted for 3 weeks. We did it as an experiment, just to see how long the tulips would last.
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Aug 13 2008, 10:34am
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We submerge orchids in long tall vases quite a lot for weddings now. I always do as Dinorthy said and wire the bottoms and splay out the wire each side to secure them under the stones ( we use clear glass stones), as otherwise they do tend to come out from between the stones and float to the top of the vase.
The other thing we do now is instead of using water in the vases, we use soda water. This has a fantastic effect as the bubbles rest on the orchids and then release themselves up the vase over time, it does look best on white or light coloured orchids. It looks like you have a bubble machine inside the vase. We have had enormous feedback from doing these and the bubbles usually last about 4-5 hours. Most reception centres have the soda water on their soft drink gas guns and we just fill the vases up with these. You can also do it with bottled soda water as well and the cheap brands do just as good a job.
We have also found that placing the vases on mirrors with tealight candels around the out side of the vases lookd fantasic. The light tends to shine off the mirror and the bubbles.
Hope this is of some help.
Good luck!!
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Sep 14 2008, 1:24pm
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I really like you idea (Caz) with the mirrors and tealinght candels. Very interesting.
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Sep 21 2008, 11:10pm
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cymbidium orchids work well submerged too, you can wrap decorative wire or fishing line round the bottom of the orchid and put a washer or weight at the end then put the stones/pebbles on the washer and that stops the orchid from escaping. Someone on another forum said they use magnets, similar to corsage magnets, put a magnet on the bottom of the vase and wrap the stem end in wire and the wire sticks to the magnet and keeps it down, makes sense but havent tried it. they also used the same method to keep a flower halfway up a vase by sticking the magnet to the side of the vase.... interesting i thought, I must get round to having a try at that with corsage magnets
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Sep 22 2008, 7:01am
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Sep 23 2008, 7:49pm
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I am with Winnierose great ideas thanks for sharing!
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Sep 29 2008, 10:31am
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emerged??
emerged means "came out"
i think you mean Submerged - as in underwater, right??
i have used the fishing line technique before with success, fiddly work but acheivable.
if it were my job i'd use a Kenzan in each vase covered with pebbles etc..
Kenzan are small pin cushions with a lead/heavy base , they are used frequently in ikebana and tile arrangements
can pick them up at good sundry suppliers or ebay etc.
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Oct 1 2008, 9:12am
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Ha, very true it is more submerged than emerged.
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Oct 13 2008, 6:06pm
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Hi guys, don't know if anyone is still interested in the original post here, but I would like to let you know of my results! We have a Florist/Cafe in the Yarra Valley, and I often put arrangements on the tables. I have SUBMERGED gerberas for 3 days, and cymbidium orchids are still happy & healthy after 7 days. I use loosely scrunched cello with a white riverstone on top to hold the cello down - conceal the stone with flowers, then carefully add another layer - keep adding layers until the vase is full. I carefully add, to the top of the arrangement, some gel chrystals (the ones from A-pack we use when we wrap every bouquet or bunch). The whole effect is that the flowers are suspended in ice.
90% of the clients in our shop have stuck their finger in to feel! - makes for a messy table but every one of those people will remember the experience & maybe tell one other person,& one other person.....etc.
The benefit of using this method of SUBMERSION is that you don't need the flowers anchored to pincushions, oasis, or anything else. you forget about the stem - there is no stem -all you have to do is concentrate on how wonderful each FLOWER is going look through a pristine clear glass vase.
Sorry I haven't let you know of these results earlier than this. I think I was in disbelief about the "emerged" thing!!!!
James - I think you need to do some serious homework before you post a question.
Hope you EMerge well & SUBmerge with a fight!!!!!!
A few further flowers to submerge - Anthuriums last about 2 weeks. Singapore orchids - about 1 week. I have lately been mixing those fabulous coloured plastic chrystals with the gel chrystals & it looks great! If you mix the 2 together, the coloured ones suspend in the gel. Pick your colours right, & the whole thing is amazing!
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Nov 19 2008, 10:06am
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Nov 19 2008, 3:27pm
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Hello floweringtrees0603,
Thank you for being so thorough with your explanation regarding your gerberas in your table display. I must come to the defence of James as his terminology is technically correct. Although we commonly say that we will submerge the correct terninology is to emerge. To explain further the French mergere means to dip. Emerge is to become visable, apparent or known. The bloom appearing between the layers of cellophane is an emergence. I think it is important not to bypass the main issue and that is to assist florists with more knowledge to educate them further about flower usage. James was definitely correct however it is great that such detailed information has arisen from his question. I am sure the responses will benefit many.
Gregory Milner.
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Nov 22 2008, 4:36pm
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Greg, I know this English language can be rather confusing, but would you mind if put your explanation of EMERGE and SUBMERGE to the test. Suppose you were in a swimming pool and I SUBMERGE you, head and all under the water. I would not be at all surprised to see your head EMERGE after a little while gasping for breath. I would definitely be worried if you remained SUBMERGED and did not EMERGE from the surface of the water.
You see, the problem is not so much the language but the definitions and the interpretations man has put on these words. Basically it is because we have not identified the Elements and Principles of DESIGN in NATURE but rather tried to adapt the Elements and Principles of Art defined by man.
Not being able to demonstrate physically in the case of the gerberas, I will try to explain by the Element of Colour. As the gerbera was SUBMERGED in plain clear water it can be seen through the water. but If the gerbera was SUMGERED in JET BLACK WATER it would not be able to be seen until it EMERGES above the surface of the black water. Even though it cannot be seen in the black water we know it has SUBMERGED there. The principle would apply if black cello was used.
To set a discussion in motion, lets commence with the most important ELEMENT of the universe, which if you do not know is COLOUR. Umm! you say that's debatable? Please enter into this discussion by replying to the following. Contary of what you have been lead to believe (a) how many basic colours are there in the rainbow ? (b) In four words only explain BLACK (c) in as short a sentence as possible explain the Colour ( WHITE ) No, I did not leave this blank, it is the word WHITE printed in white.
Identifying and understanding the ELEMENTS nad PRINCIPLES of DESIGN in NATURE instead of those in Art is most essential in the Florists Studio. I hope to pass on to you all this knowledge in the interset of good floristry.
EFlowerAlive in the WISDOM of FLOWERS Ron
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Nov 25 2008, 2:43pm
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Thanks Ron, it always delights me to read any information from florists with vast experience. Your point regarding the elements and priciples of design in nature is extremely valid and should have more emphasis placed upon it.
Thanks for the comments.
Greg
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Nov 25 2008, 5:40pm
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THANK YOU! Greg, I was quite concerned you would not EMERGE with a reply. We need to push Flowergoss furthur to restore the symbolic nature of flowers and florist shops within the Industry, instead of being promoted and controlled by non-florists. I have tried to place a few articles on the site but not being computer whiz I have not been successful. Keep up the good work. Cheers Ron
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Nov 26 2008, 3:30am
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Hey Ron,
If you are having problems send them to me at floristry@gmail.com and I can put them up for you. I am currently overseas so it could take a few days.
Good to see you getting involved.
James
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Dec 2 2008, 4:44pm
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Years ago, probablly about 30, a display promoting flowers and Interflora was always a major point of interest in the Royal National Show (EKKA) in Brisbane. I was invovled for well over 20years in designing and building the props. One year in particular we had a display of Australian Natives flown from West Australian. We displayed them submerged in water. The interesting part of the display was that the water was FROZEN. The flowers were arranged, hung upside down in a stell cone shape mould, filled with water, snap frozen and flown to Brisbane. The cone of ice was about 1meter high and 40cms wide at the base. They lasted about 5 days so we had 2 cones flown over the 10 day period. The flowers were still in very good condition when they emerged from the ice. EflowersAlive the Wisdom of Flowers Ron. PS Does anyone know if these are still available?
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Dec 8 2008, 11:20pm
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Do you have any photo's Ron? Sounds amazing!
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Dec 9 2008, 9:13am
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Katherine, Sad to say, I do not have a photo to my re-collection. When I get some time from the shop I must search through my hundreds of photos. Lets promote FlowerGoss and get the older Family of Florists back in the circle to encourage the real spirit of flowers and floristry. These cones were around 30 years ago maybe pictures in the retired floriss album.
Cheers with Flowery Seasons Greetings of LOVE PEACE and JOY. Be Wise with EFlowersAlive the Wisdom of Flowers Ron
Oh! by the way, have just about completed the whole segment of costing in the operation of a florist. Hoping to put it on a CD shortly,with a little bit of luck.
Ruddy computers????? Give me a BIG HAMMER!!!!

Kathrine, HOORAY1 HOORAY! I found a pictire of West Australian Native Ice Cone...........Enjoy...........Be Wise with EFlowersAlive............Ron
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Dec 18 2008, 12:46am
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Not too bad Ron for 30 years ago!
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Dec 20 2008, 8:34pm
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That is fantastic Ron! So glad that you found a photo - SO GLAD I took a closer look!!! The little photo looks almost like a "martian" suspended in methylated spirits! See his little face!! The enlargement is fantastic!!! - I still don't remember these ice cones. Maybe it was a hot climate Queensland/WA thing? I've been a Florist in Vic for about 35 years, and have never seen anything quite like that!!
Bit of inspiration, though!!
I've been inspired, over the last 12 months, by the fact that many, many flowers can successfully and beautifully be presented underwater. I have experimented with many ways of "arranging" underwater - and ALWAYS the most effective is the idea that the flowers are submerged in "ICE"!
I am thinking that I may create an ICEMARTIAN of my own, because i love him!!!
Cheers Ron - and have a fabulous Christmas!!!!
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