I know that in the cut-flower world, roses are not known for being particularly hardy. However, they always seem to fade sooner than I expect, even when I tell myself “they don’t last long.” Mr. Athena bought me a lovely bouquet for Valentine’s Day; not 24 hours later, I had to pick 2 or 3 out of the vase because they’d reached maximum droopage.
The rest are slowly going. I think yesterday was their peak - 2 days after I got 'em. They’re all starting to look a bit under the weather now.
Apparently, just a few days is the most you can hope for, unless you take steps to lengtyhen their stay in your home.
They should last at least a few days. Last time that happened to me, I complained to the florist & got the roses replaced.
A blogger had some comments about this recently - http://www.janegalt.net/blog/archives/003948.html:
She then recommends an online florist which goes directly to the growers. This ultimately delivers flowers which will last “for weeks”.
I used to cut roses. The g’house I worked for phased out the cut roses because roses from South America could be bought cheaper, as they don’t have to spend as much for lighting/heat for V-D roses. But roses fron South America have to travel farther, and may not be as fresh as ones grown closer to home.
We would cut twice a day, once in the morning, and once in the afternoon. The roses went immediately from cut, to water (water containing citruc acid for preservation, and bleach for disinfection), to the cooler. Inside the cooler, if they were cut right (not too open, not to tight so they never open) they would last 4-5 days. Cooling would prevent them from opening too fast once cut.
If you want your roses at home to last, keep them in a cool place, and in the refrigerator at night, but at best you are probably only going to get an extra day or two out of them. If they are from South America, they might be at the end of their lifespan anyways.
When buying roses, the ones that are slightly open are prettier, but they are nearing the end of their lifespan. If they are too tighly closed, they won’t ever open, and the bud will droop on the stem after a few days.
Just for comparison, we would sometimes drop cut roses in the rows accidentally, if we came upon one that had been cut in the morning during the afternoon cut, it would be fully blown open in a few short hours.
If you would like to preserve your boquet, tie a string around it and let it hang upside down until dry. Then they last a long time. 