Top Tip For Florists - All About Proteas

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Hi, everyone. Janette here from Kay's Flower School. And today our top tips are going to be talking about protea, or the horny part, as it's often known as, because you have these fabulous fluffy sort of petals coming up around a mass of these fluffy flower it. They're just beautiful. They're available all year round. There is lots of different varieties. They can last easily a month that way. So they last for ages.
Problems that people may have with them, sometimes a mold will start to grow on the fluffy inside of the flower. That's normally because there's no air circulating. Maybe you have them packed too tightly in your vase. So make sure they're nice and loose. Or another problem is they start to go black, and that's normally a sign that they're in the dark.
They actually like to be kept in a bright room. You know the way some flowers we say store them in a dark area? Well, protea actually like to be kept in a warmer room, but also a brighter room. Believe it or not, the flower itself produces a lot of heat the other way, not that you're going to feel it radiating over, but they do produce a lot of heat. So they drink lots and lots of water.
So it'll no harm at all every second day to recut the ends of the stems. They definitely like flower food, and they like their water to be changed regularly, as I said, every second or third day to change the water. But maybe every day, or at least every second day to recut the ends of the stems and top off the vases regular.
They are quite heavy as a flower, so make sure that the vase is steady enough and sturdy enough to hold them. For bridal work, they're not a very popular flower for bridal work, but you may find just to use one fabulous bloom as a focal point In the wedding bouquet, and then to make a mass of something else around it. Or, obviously, they do come smaller.
These ones are quite big, but even to group a couple of them and to have some large foliage leaves around it, will be just amazing and striking. Or what about even in a flower arrangement, and again, where you need a little bit of weight or balance in the end of your arrangement, they're perfect.
But again, you could use maybe two or three of them together as well. There's lots of different colors, like this pink ice color is just fabulous, probably one of the more popular ones. And you will find for storing in water, again the usual, remove any foliage that will be under the water. You can use your stem stripper for this. It's a woody stem. It's quite a big stem. So again, you can use your scissors and cut off like 45 degree angle off the end, use your secretaries. I'm using the scissors here and you can see there. Oopsy daisies. Secretaries will be much better.
Cut them on a 45 degree angle and place in clean water, as I said, with food in it, but change the water every two to three days and recut the flower every day, if possible, or at least every second day. Now another thing to know about protea, it's actually possible to dry them. So if you have some leftover, so normally when you're buying them in wholesale, they'll be sold in either fives or 10s. It depends on the size of the heads that you're buying.
So the smaller the heads, maybe the larger quantities that you will have to buy. But if you find that you have any heads left over, if you just basically hang them upside down, once they've been well conditioned, hang them upside down in a dry, dark room, you know what I mean, you will find that the flower itself will actually dry out. And it's possible, when you're buying dried flowers, to buy dried protea. They are available all year round, but I suppose probably more known as a winter flower, autumn, winter flower.
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But again, this would be useful in the wedding season, maybe to compliment maybe a blush pink wedding dress. I just think it would be fabulous. Again, if you have any questions, post them in the comments below, and again, I will respond to everyone. Thanks a million for listening.

[@phongphong4640]

I held a single stem of a Huge protea in my wedding. (In North Carolina) It was such a unique bridal "bougue". All our guests were impressed by the unusual flower.

[@stephaniecaparas5178]

I love this flower. Absolutely beautiful! Do the king protea open more after they are cut? If so, is there a trick to have them open up more?

[@kayescriven2656]

How do you keep their colour when drying Protea's or Banksea's