Caring for your Golden Bloom

Keep Golden Bloom in a clean vase of cool, fresh water and away from direct sun, heat, and the ethylene given off by ripening fruit. Delphinium is a thirsty drinker with hollow, somewhat brittle stems, so keep the water level generous and handle the spires gently to avoid snapping them. The Orchid is the more delicate of the two and dislikes cold drafts, so place the arrangement somewhere stable and out of the path of air conditioning. Refresh the water every couple of days and lift out any spent Delphinium florets as they fall, which keeps the water clean for the longer-lasting Orchid.

A note on your specific blooms

  • Delphinium — Keep the tall stems in deep, fresh water and out of draughts, as Delphinium drinks heavily and wilts quickly if the vase runs low.
  • Orchid — Keep orchid stems in cool, clean water away from ripening fruit, whose ethylene gas makes the blooms drop early.

How long your flowers last

Golden Bloom pairs Delphinium with Orchid, two blooms on very different clocks, so expect the arrangement to look its best for around 5–7 days as a whole. The Delphinium is the first to go, its tall spires shedding florets from the bottom up after roughly 5–7 days. The Orchid is the quiet endurer, holding its form for 2–3 weeks and often carrying the display long after the Delphinium has been trimmed away. To stretch the life of both, change the water every two days and recut the stems at an angle each time, the single habit that keeps an Amicis arrangement fresh longest.

The story behind these flowers

A closer look at the blooms gathered into this arrangement.

Delphinium

Origin

Native across the Northern Hemisphere, through Europe and Asia

Cultivated since

In European gardens for centuries

Fragrance

Virtually scentless

Symbolises

Openness, lightness & positivity

Named from the Greek for dolphin, after the shape of the flower itself, Delphinium carries blooms in graduated spires of cobalt, violet and white. That vertical line is what makes it indispensable in an arrangement - it draws the eye upward and gives an Amicis design its sense of height and architecture.

Orchid

Origin

Tropical regions worldwide

Cultivated since

Prized in Asia for centuries; carried to Europe across the 18th and 19th centuries

Fragrance

Most cut varieties virtually scentless

Symbolises

Refinement, luxury & rare beauty

Among the largest plant families on earth, orchids took root across the tropics of Asia and the Americas, cultivated in Asia long before reaching the West. Victorian collectors then chased them across the globe, fuelling a famous European craze. Their arched stems and sculptural blooms bring quiet architecture to an arrangement, holding their form for weeks where softer flowers fade.