Caring for your Tropical Parrot

Keep this arrangement in a cool spot out of direct sun and away from any draught or ripening fruit, which the tulips and hydrangea are especially sensitive to. The hydrangea drinks largely through its petals as well as its stem, so a light daily misting of its head will keep it from wilting before its time. Give the woody protea and heliconia stems a clean diagonal cut and plenty of deep water, as their thicker stems pull slowly and dislike sitting in a shallow vase. The tropical anthurium and orchid ask for little beyond clean, room-temperature water, while the tulips will continue to grow and lean, so simply re-trim and re-position them as the days pass.

A note on your specific blooms

  • Anthurium — Anthurium prefers warmth — keep it away from the cold and wipe the leaf gently.
  • Craspedia — Give each stem a fresh diagonal cut and stand it in clean water; the bare stems need little else, and the golden heads hold for weeks.
  • Fern — Keep fronds out of direct sun and mist them occasionally, as ferns lose moisture through their leaves faster than most cut greenery.
  • Heliconia — Keep it warm; Heliconia bruises and blackens below 12°C, so never refrigerate or sit it in a cold draught.
  • Hydrangea — Hydrangea takes up water through its petals — mist the heads and keep the vase topped up.
  • Orchid — Keep orchid stems in cool, clean water away from ripening fruit, whose ethylene gas makes the blooms drop early.
  • Protea — Strip any foliage below the waterline and refresh the water every two to three days, as protea leaves foul water quickly and shorten the bloom's life.
  • Tulip — Tulips keep growing in the vase and lean toward light, so use a tall, supportive vessel and turn it daily to keep the stems straight.

How long your flowers last

Expect this mix to look its best for roughly 5–10 days, with the timeline staggered by the very different blooms inside it. The hydrangea and tulips are the first to soften, fading at around 4–7 and 5–7 days, while the tulips also keep stretching and bending toward the light after cutting. Holding far longer are the anthurium and orchid, both comfortable at 2–3 weeks, with the protea, heliconia and fern carrying the tropical structure through the middle stretch at 10–14 days. To get the most from an Amicis Tropical Parrot, change the water every two days and trim a little off the stems each time, since fresh cuts are what keep the long-lasting anthurium and orchid drinking well after the early blooms have gone.

The story behind these flowers

A closer look at the blooms gathered into this arrangement.

Anthurium

Origin

Rainforests of Colombia & Ecuador

Documented

By botanists in the 1870s

Fragrance

Virtually scentless

Symbolises

Hospitality, confidence & beauty

The anthurium's glossy, sculptural 'bloom' is in fact a modified leaf, with a poised tropical architecture few flowers can match. It lends Amicis designs a clean, modern edge — and one of the longest vase lives in the bouquet.

Craspedia

Origin

Australia and New Zealand

Described

By science in the late 1700s

Fragrance

Virtually scentless

Symbolises

Good health, optimism & cheer

A wildflower of Australian grasslands and alpine meadows, Craspedia carries a single perfect sphere of densely packed golden florets on a slender, leafless stem. That graphic, button-round form brings rhythm and a flash of warm colour to an arrangement - and because it dries beautifully, it holds its shape long after the rest has faded.

Fern

Origin

Worldwide, in shaded woodlands and wetlands

Recorded

In the fossil record for hundreds of millions of years

Fragrance

Faint and green

Symbolises

Texture, depth & natural movement

One of the oldest plant lineages on Earth, ferns flourished long before the first flowering plant unfurled. In an arrangement their feathered, architectural fronds soften hard edges and lend a quiet woodland depth, the green foil that lets Amicis blooms read clean and considered.

Heliconia

Origin

Tropical Americas (a few species Pacific/Indonesia)

Named

By Linnaeus in 1771

Fragrance

Virtually scentless

Symbolises

Boldness, return & exotic beauty

Linnaeus named the genus after Mount Helicon, home of the Greek muses, and the flower lives up to the billing. What reads as a bloom is a fan of waxy bracts, lacquered in scarlet, gold and pink, that lends an Amicis arrangement clean tropical architecture and lines that hold from across a room.

Hydrangea

Origin

Japan & the Americas

Cultivated since

Reached European gardens in the 1700s

Fragrance

Very light, fresh and green

Symbolises

Heartfelt emotion & gratitude

Named from the Greek for 'water vessel', the hydrangea carries full, cloud-like heads that shift colour with the soil — from blush and cream to deep blue. Its generous volume gives Amicis bouquets their soft, romantic fullness.

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.

Protea

Origin

South Africa's Cape Floristic region

Described

By Linnaeus, mid-1700s

Fragrance

Faint and honeyed

Symbolises

Resilience, diversity & courage

Named for Proteus, the shape-shifting sea god, the protea answers to a genus so varied it seems to change form at will. Its architectural bracts and sculptural silhouette bring weight and structure to an arrangement, holding the eye as a single, deliberate focal point.

Tulip

Origin

Central Asia, long cultivated across the Ottoman world

Cultivated since

The 1500s in Europe

Fragrance

Faint and fresh, often nearly scentless

Symbolises

Perfect love, elegance & spring renewal

Native to the mountains and steppes of Central Asia and prized in the Ottoman court, the tulip reached Europe in the 1500s and later fed a Dutch trading frenzy in which the rarest bulbs could rival the price of a house. Its clean, sculptural cup and quiet colour make it a study in restraint - a flower that keeps growing and bending toward the light long after it is cut, giving any Amicis arrangement a living, unhurried grace.