Sweet pea flowers in a floral arrangement

April 12, 2006 11:51 AM

I'm looking to deliver an arrangement of sweetpeas in the continental United States. Cost is no objective, and even the timing is not urgent -- anytime from now until the end of this month would work. However, I can't seem to find any florist that actually offers arrangements with these flowers!

From what I can gather from Google and from conversations with florists, there are a few hurdles:

1) The flowers are almost, but not quite, in season. This seems to contradict other sources which say that April is about as late as they still grow, being a cold-weather flower.

2) Apparently they wilt very quickly (1-2 days?) unless somehow specially treated with some sort of chemical(?), after which they can look fresh for up to a week.

3) That they are a "vine" type plant and don't have well-defined stems, and thus are difficult to make into nice arrangements.

Does anyone have ideas?

Bonus: what's with sweetpeas in wedding bouquets, anyway? (especially since their meaning is apparently 'delicate pleasures?')

posted by NucleophilicAttack to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

Your best bet is to call an upscale florist in the town where you want the flowers delivered. Most of the big floral companies (1-800-flowers and the like) are too big of a machine to deal with very specific requests, and your order just goes to the closest network affiliate florist anyway, who may or may not have sweetpeas on hand. Dealing one on one with a person in the area where you need them delivered is best.
posted by kimdog at 12:30 PM on April 12, 2006

It's a few miles away from you, but there's a florist in Greenwich, Conn. that does a lot of business with fragile, rare and expensive flowers.

Website: www.mcardles.com.
posted by brina at 2:59 PM on April 12, 2006

This place has a sweet pea bouquet, but it's crazy expensive. I think kimdog's suggestion to contact a local florist is probably your best bet.
As far as growing season goes, the ones I planted in the fall here in the Bay Area are not blooming yet.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:12 PM on April 12, 2006