The language of roses has never lost its lustre, even with the passing of time. Gifting someone roses has always been a sign of love and affection. The number of roses given also has significant meaning. Lately, it has become the trend to present 99 roses, especially to that special someone.
99 roses carry the meaning that ‘our love will last for all eternity’. In short, it is a declaration that you want to spend your whole life with the object of your affection.
Roses make the perfect expression of love, especially pink and red roses. Red roses signify passion and desire, while pink roses signify a sweet and innocent type of love.
Roses come in many colors these days, and putting together a 99 rose bouquet does involve some research. Here’s how you can best put together a 99 rose bouquet:
Practical Steps To Make a 99 Rose Bouquet
Making a large bouquet is no mean feat. It requires a good eye for detail and of course, some practice. Here’s how you can get started:
1. Know your flowers and their meanings
If you’re going to design a 99 rose bouquet, it’s good to know the different rose colors available first and their meaning. Roses that are red, pink, peach or the like are the most suitable as romantic gifts. Other rose colors, like yellow, are usually more for friendships and platonic love. Once you’re familiar with your rose colors, you can make better design decisions, or even give advice to clients and customers.
2. Order your roses and supplies
The freshness of your bouquet is paramount to its quality. You should get your flowers from a wholesale florist in Singapore. Apart from just the roses, you should also consider whether you want to add filler flowers or greenery to the bouquet, like white baby’s breath, statice or poms. You should also make sure you get your florist supplies wholesale in SIngapore as that would help bring your production costs down.
Before your start, make sure you have a flower cutter, a clear plastic wrapper, wrapping paper, cotton, ribbons and whatever else you might need for decoration.
Baby’s breaths are often used as filler flowers for roses.
3. Start arranging your roses
Once your roses arrive, it’s time to arrange them. The 99 rose bouquet is usually presented as a hand-held bouquet, rather than in a vase or basket. Therefore, the most stable design would be a spiral one. Start by gripping the first rose at a central point about 30-40cm from the top.
Start adding roses in a circular manner around the first rose. It doesn’t matter if you go clockwise or anti-clockwise, as long as you maintain a firm grip on the binding point. After you’ve reached about 30 roses, secure the central binding point with sticky tape. Go around at least twice.
Continue adding flowers in a circular pattern and securing the binding point every 20-30 roses that you add. This will make it easier for you so you don’t have to continue gripping the rose stalks.Once you’ve added the last of the 99 roses, encircle the binding point with tape one last time.
Secure your bouquet with tape every 20 -30 roses added.
4. Add any filler flower or greenery
You can now add any filler flowers to the outer rim of the bouquet. Some florists like to add green accents as well, for example ferns or monstera leaves. You can tape these to the outer part of the bouquet, at the binding point.
Some florists will add filler leaves or flowers in the middle of the bouquet. If you choose to do this, you’ll have to incorporate them during step 3, as you’re adding the roses in a circular pattern.
Incorporate fillers and greenery for a unique touch.
5. Cut the stalks to the same length
If you’ve done it right so far, you should now have a bundle of roses with its stalk flaring out like a skirt beneath the narrow binding point. You should now take your shears and snip the stalks to about the same length. There is no hard and fast rule what the length of the stalks should be. Usually they’re not longer than 30 cm after the binding point.
6. Surround the stalks with cotton
The next step is to surround the bottom half of the stalks, after the binding point, with cotton. This step is done so that the cotton can be soaked with water later on. Surrounding the stalks with wet cotton keeps the roses fresh for longer. The cotton should reach all the way up to the binding point if possible. The availability of moisture for the roses means that it can live longer and keep its freshness rather than wilting.
7. Wrap cotton with plastic
Now, wrap a layer of waterproof plastic around the lower part of the stems and secure it with tape or string at the binding point. The easiest way to do this is to secure your bouquet with cotton-wrapped stalks over the waterproof plastic. Bring the plastic up and over the cotton, and secure it at the narrow binding point.
8. Next, wet the cotton
The next step involves dampening the cotton with water. Make sure you use clean or filtered water. You don’t want strange smells coming out from your bouquet later on. Wet the cotton, but make sure it is not overly soaked until water is dripping out from the top. Ensure that the cotton is damp but not dripping.
9. Now for the outer decorations
Here’s where you can get creative. Many florists secure the outer part of the bouquet with wrapping paper. These days wrapping papers are made with a wide variety of materials, like crepe, organza, tissue and mesh. Since 99 rose bouquets are romantic gestures, you want your outer wrappings to be sweet and soft, so materials like organza, crepe and meat would be the best. You can secure the wrappings with sticky tape, and add a ribbon at the middle binding point.
Example of a 99 rose bouquet outer wrapping style.
To get professional pointers on making bouquets, why not consider a florist course in Singapore. This way you can bring your skills up to the next level and be one of the more unique florists in Singapore, and attract a wider set of customers.
Alternatively, if making your own rose bouquets isn’t quite something you’re keen on, you can always consider ordering a unique 99 roses bouquet from us at Farm Florist.