Caring for your Engrande

Gladiolus drink steadily and like a deep vessel, so fill it two-thirds with cool water and top it up daily rather than letting the level drop. These tall spikes are top-heavy and will lean toward the light and bend at the tip, so a taller vase and a quarter-turn each day keeps them standing straight. Pinch out each floret once it has finished to keep the stem tidy and push the higher buds to open in sequence. Trim a centimetre from the base every couple of days and keep the arrangement clear of ripening fruit, whose ethylene shortens the life of every spike.

A note on your specific blooms

  • Gladiolus — Trim the stem and pinch off the topmost faded buds to push the remaining florets up the spike into bloom.

How long your flowers last

Composed entirely of gladiolus, Engrande holds well for roughly 7–10 days in a cool spot away from direct sun. Because every stem is the same flower, the bouquet ages evenly rather than in stages: the lowest florets on each spike open and fade first, while the buds higher up the stem continue to unfurl and carry the display through its second week. To keep that upward bloom going, snip off the spent lower florets as they wilt so the plant directs its energy to the buds still waiting to open. The single most useful habit is to recut the stems on a sharp angle and refresh the water every two days, which is how Amicis keeps gladiolus looking upright and full to the very tip.

The story behind these flowers

A closer look at the blooms gathered into this arrangement.

Gladiolus

Origin

Southern Africa

In European gardens since

the 1700s–1800s

Fragrance

Lightly sweet to virtually scentless

Symbolises

Strength, integrity & remembrance

Named for the Latin gladius, or sword, after its tall, blade-like leaves. Each stem then stacks funnel-shaped blooms that open from the base upward, and that vertical line gives an Amicis arrangement its height and architecture, drawing the eye skyward where rounded flowers would settle flat.