Overnight Flower Shipment Instructions

Loose Flowers With Stems

Materials needed

  • Box large enough to accommodate your packing method
  • Manila folders (if applicable)
  • Cotton balls (if applicable)
  • Water tubs for the flower stems
  • Plastic sandwich bags, paper towels, rubber bands or scotch tape
  • Masking tape
  • Newspaper
  • Styrofoam peanuts for packing
  • Duct tape
  • Frozen gel ice bags (found in department stores in Sporting Goods or Housewares)
  • Packing tape

Instructions

  1. Select a box that will accommodate your flowers in length and height.
  2. Check for any large delicate flowers (lilies, orchids, iris, hibiscus, etc.) If you have some of these being sent, make a cone shape structure from the manila folder to fit around the flower head only. Attach the narrow end of the cone to the stem of the flower with masking tape. If you have hollow flowers such as tulips, very gently place a cotton ball or two in the center of the flower to support its shape and not be crushed.
  3. Cut each stem about 1/2 inch off the bottom and attach a water tube, filled with water, to each flower stem so the stem is well down in the water. Some flower stems will be too big for even the largest water tubes. For these flowers, thoroughly saturate a paper towel with water and wrap it around the freshly cut stem. Place a plastic sandwich bag around the wet paper towel, then wrap a rubber band around the top part of the bag to hold it securely to the stem of the flower. (you may use scotch tape but rubber bands are more secure.)
  4. Any flowers that have special meaning or need especially to be used the encasement, tag the stem with masking tape and indicate on the tape any special instructions concerning that flower.
  5. Once your flower heads have been protected, and the stems have a source of water, bundle your flowers together in a staggered pattern so the heads are not all at the same level. No flower head should be touching another. Open a sheet of newspaper and wrap the bundle of flowers together and secure with masking tape.
  6. Place a cushioning amount of packing peanuts on the floor of the box at then end where the flower heads will lay. Tape the stems of the flowers (with duct tape) to the bottom of the box across the water tubes and also across the stems a little higher up. Do NOT tape down so hard you break the stems, but securely enough so the flowers don’t move. Across the ends of the tape, that is secured to the floor of the box, place another strip of tape crosswise to add security.
  7. Place ice gel bags, that have been frozen, on top of the paper wrapped stems of the flowers just above the water tubes. (Two ice gel bags should be fine) Tape the ice bags across the stems with duct tape, then secure the ends of the duct tape to the floor of the box.
  8. Fill the box with packing peanuts and prepare it securely to ship.
  9. You must ship overnight express to ensure as much freshness of the flowers as possible!!
  10. Please ship to: Suspended In Time® Victoria, 1144 Menke Rd., Victoria, TX 77905