How Long Does a Carnation Last in Dubai, and Is It a Cheap Flower?

A carnation outlasts a rose in the vase by about a week, and that is the fact worth starting from. Two questions follow, and both have an answer we can show rather than assert: how long a carnation actually holds in a Dubai flat, and whether the flower deserves the word cheap.

White carnations carry respect and remembrance, pink ones suit a mother or a thank you, and the burgundy, purple and blue tones sit inside our larger arrangements. Each section below names the piece that holds the colour, with its real composition and its real prices.

How long does a carnation last compared with a rose?

Illinois Extension's guide to extending the vase life of fresh flowers sorts cut flowers into groups, and the gap between them is wide. Carnations and chrysanthemums are given two weeks in a vase. Roses and gerbera daisies belong to a more delicate group it puts at under a week.

That is roughly seven days of difference on the same table, from the same order. The claim is worth keeping narrow, though: the chrysanthemum sits in that same two-week group, and our own pages say that cymbidium and phalaenopsis orchids hold for weeks longer still. What the carnation beats is the rose and the gerbera, which is what most bouquets are actually built on.

Windsor is built on three flowers: blue hydrangeas, white roses and white carnations, with airy green accents between them. Its own page describes the white carnation as clove-scented and unusually durable once it is in water, which is what the published figures say too. It comes in four sizes at 450, 650, 1,100 and 1,500 dirhams.

What the figure assumes you do

• Cut the stems under water, so that no air is drawn into the stem.
• Strip any foliage that would sit below the waterline.
• Change the water every two to three days, or sooner once it clouds.
• Trim the stems again on arrival, as our own product pages ask.

Are carnations a cheap flower?

Judged on where it sits in our own catalogue, no. The carnation is worked into some of the largest and dearest pieces we build rather than kept at the bottom of the range, and it is there for the ruffled, layered head and for the clove scent the RHS records across the whole of Dianthus.

Sylvan is the gentlest arrangement we make and one of the dearest. White phalaenopsis orchids open beneath a centre of peach chrysanthemum pompons, with cream and blush carnations, roses and hydrangea filling the body around them. Green palm fronds frame it on both sides and one eremurus spire lifts the top line. Four sizes run at 800, 1,300, 1,840 and 2,800 dirhams.

The Crown, the most saturated piece in our Majestic collection, uses coral carnations among red roses, red hydrangea and burgundy cymbidium orchid, at 1,500 and 2,500 dirhams. In neither design is the carnation filling a gap: it is carrying a texture the orchids and the roses do not have.

Where carnations sit in our collections

• Roughly a quarter of the arrangements in our best sellers collection name carnations in their description.
• More than twenty purchasable arrangements across the site do.
• The copper-box designs that use them reach 2,800 dirhams in the largest Sylvan.
• The least expensive are hand-tied bouquets at 350 dirhams.

Which carnation colour should you send?

The colour decides how a carnation gift reads, more than the size or the vessel does. Iowa State University Extension's language-of-flowers page is the source for the readings below, and it says of itself that it gathers from several sources and that one flower can hold more than one meaning. Take a colour as a sensible default, then, and the recipient's own taste as the decision.

Elara sets burgundy carnations against deep red roses and blush pink tulips, with the papery husks of physalis added for texture, in a cream ceramic vase at 2,000 dirhams. In the cooler register, Bloom Theory builds on deep purple carnations with lavender hydrangea, allium tendrils and trailing palm at 1,235 dirhams. The Royale layers blue carnations with blue roses, cobalt hydrangea and blue dendrobium orchid at 1,500 and 2,500 dirhams.

What each carnation colour is said to mean

• Red reads as admiration and an aching heart in Iowa State's list.
• Pink is given as a promise never to forget someone.
• White is sweet and lovely, innocence and pure love.
• Purple is given as capriciousness.
• A striped carnation is listed as a refusal rather than a compliment.

Why is the carnation the Mother's Day flower?

Because the holiday began with the flower rather than with a bouquet. The New Jersey Digital Newspaper Project at Rutgers University Libraries records that the original idea was simple: wear a white carnation and honour your mother. Anna Jarvis held the first service in 1907, and the day was made national by Woodrow Wilson in 1914.

Blush Radiance is the same gesture in a softer palette, gathering soft pink roses, delicate carnations, blush-edged white anthuriums and airy lisianthus into a hand-tied bouquet at 350 and 550 dirhams. For the original white, Windsor is the one to send. If she already owns every version of pink, Amethyst runs lavender carnations with pink garden roses and mauve hydrangea from 650 to 1,800 dirhams, and Untamed threads peach carnations through yellow roses and white hydrangea at 700 dirhams.

Choosing a carnation for a mother

• White, for the colour the custom began with.
• Pink, which Iowa State's list reads as a promise never to forget.
• Lavender or peach, when she has been sent pink every year.
• A line of your own on the card, since Jarvis asked people to visit or write.

What is the difference between standard and spray carnations?

The difference is made by the grower rather than by the plant. The RHS puts the natural count at about six flowers to a stem, and explains that growers bring that number down by disbudding when they want bigger blooms, leaving a single bud on the stem for the florist-style carnation. A standard is that one large head. A spray is the stem left closer to the way the plant flowers by itself.

Freya gathers blush carnations with coral garden roses and peach ranunculus, with trailing greens running through to soften the edges, at 650 dirhams. Its page gives the carnation a spiced, clove-warm scent and a bloom that holds its ruffle, which is the part of the flower doing the work in a hand-tied bouquet.

Reading the flower itself

• A standard carries one large head per stem, with the side buds removed by the grower.
• A spray carries several smaller heads, which is how the plant flowers untouched.
• Both are Dianthus caryophyllus, which NC State Extension also lists as clove pink.
• NC State gives the blooms as one to three inches across, with ruffled petals.

When should you choose a carnation over a rose?

When the message should stay warm rather than become a declaration, and when nobody will be tending the vase. Iowa State's list gives the red rose as love outright and the red carnation as admiration, which is a useful distinction for flowers going to a mother, a sister or a colleague. Add the extra week in the vase and the choice makes itself for an office, a reception desk or a long hospital stay.

Scarlet Whisper works rust carnations into peach roses, blush ranunculus and coral disbud chrysanthemums, finished in a clean white wrap, at 350 and 550 dirhams. For something brighter, Sunset Whimsy sets soft pink carnations against orange gerberas, blush disbud chrysanthemums, creamy lisianthus and fresh green hydrangea at the same two prices.

Where the carnation is the better choice

• An office or a reception desk, if nobody there will be changing the water.
• A hospital stay, where the extra days are the whole point.
• A mother, a sister or a colleague, where Iowa State's reading of the red rose says too much.
• A table that needs texture rather than one flower repeated.

What do you write on the card sent with carnations?

Every product page carries a field marked Write a love letter, and whatever you type there is printed and sent with the flowers. Keep it to a few lines, open with the recipient's name and sign with yours in full, in case the card is read aloud in front of family or colleagues.

A printed greeting card can be added to the same order at 25 dirhams. You're the Best is the bold, playful one, positioned on its page for birthdays and thank-you gifts, Birthday wishes is a peach and lilac tiled front with the words set in deep navy, and Love Struck is the quietest in the range by its own description, a painted arrow whose tip is a small blush heart.

How much does a carnation arrangement cost in Dubai?

Arrangements in our best sellers collection start at 350 dirhams, and roughly a quarter of them name carnations in their own description. Across the site the carnation arrangements run from 350 dirhams up to 2,800, and the table gathers the sizes and prices of every piece named above.

If none of these holds the colour you have in mind, describe it on the Bespoke page and our designers build the arrangement around your palette, with sizes at 800, 1,000, 1,700 and 2,500 dirhams.

When do carnations arrive in Dubai and the UAE?

You choose the delivery date, the time slot and the area on the product page itself. The table shows the latest order time for same-day delivery in each emirate.

Frequently asked questions about carnations

What do carnations symbolise?

Iowa State University Extension's language-of-flowers page gives the carnation in general as fascination and a woman's love, and Clemson's floriography guide reads it as devotion, fascination and love. Neither of those is tied to a colour, which makes the general reading the safer one to lean on when you do not know the recipient's taste well.

How long do carnations last in Dubai?

Two weeks in a vase is Illinois Extension's published figure, and it is not ours. The placement advice sits separately in the same guide: keep cut flowers somewhere cool and bright, out of the sun and clear of anything giving off heat. In Dubai that is the part that takes effort, which means air conditioning, not the balcony and not a sunny window. Windsor's own page asks for the same thing: no direct sunlight, and no draught across the stems.

Is a carnation bouquet cheaper than a rose bouquet?

Not here. Our hand-tied range starts at 350 dirhams whichever flower leads it, and inside a single design the price follows the size rather than the stems: Amethyst is 650 dirhams at its smallest and 1,800 at its largest.

Can you ask for a standard or a spray carnation?

Not in practice. A product page lets you choose the size, the delivery and the message, not the form of an individual stem, so the choice you actually make is the design and the colour. The grower's decision has already been taken by the time an arrangement is built.

Do carnations have a scent?

Yes, and it is unusual among cut flowers. The RHS describes the dianthus scent as spicy and clove-like, and NC State Extension lists clove pink among the common names for Dianthus caryophyllus. Freya's page gives the same note as spiced and clove-warm, so the scent reaches a bouquet you can send rather than staying a garden fact.

What colour carnations can you send in Dubai?

NC State Extension lists the species in white, pink, red and burgundy, purple and lavender, orange, gold and variegated forms. The table above gives the arrangement that carries each colour we hold. Two things are worth knowing beyond it: no arrangement in this guide uses a gold or an orange carnation, and blue is absent from NC State's list for the species, so the blue in The Royale sits outside the natural range.

Are carnations safe around cats and dogs?

No. The ASPCA lists Dianthus caryophyllus as toxic to dogs, cats and horses, naming an unidentified irritant as the toxic principle and giving mild gastrointestinal signs and mild dermatitis as the clinical signs. If there is a cat in the house that chews flowers, place the arrangement out of reach.

Do carnation arrangements come in a vase or a box?

Both. Bloom Theory arrives in a white fluted ceramic vase and Elara in a cream one, so neither needs handling on arrival. Sylvan comes in the Amicis copper box, and Blush Radiance, Scarlet Whisper and Sunset Whimsy are hand-tied and wrapped, which means a vase at the other end.

Are carnations available all year?

The RHS notes that perpetual-flowering carnations, grown under glass, can flower all year round where the light is good and the temperature holds at 10 degrees or above, so the carnation is not a short-season flower. Untamed's page is the useful caveat: the seasonal accents placed around the carnations are chosen on the day, so the exact mix in an arrangement can shift.

Do carnations travel well to Abu Dhabi and the far emirates?

The windows are the reason to plan rather than the flower. Abu Dhabi has two slots closing at 4pm and 7:30pm, while Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Al Ain share one slot that closes at 4pm, so an order placed in the Dubai evening travels the following day. Against the vase life above, a day lost that way costs a carnation less than it costs a rose.

Are carnations a good wedding flower?

For a white or ivory table, yes, and the vase life is the reason: the published figure covers the setup day, the ceremony and the week that follows. Fleur Blanche uses nothing but white, and its centre holds carnations beside white roses, cymbidium orchids and narcissus, with gladiolus setting the height and calla lilies curving out at the sides, in four sizes at 700, 1,100, 1,600 and 2,450 dirhams.

Further reading

• How to make flowers last longer in Dubai's climate
• The best flowers for Dubai summer and the heat
• Orchids in Dubai, the other long-lasting luxury flower
• Flower meaning and symbolism as a gifting guide
• Types of flowers you can send in Dubai