Searching for Singapore’s Roses at Far East Orchid
*internal monologue*
Where do I find roses on Valentine’s Day?
Far East Orchid tl;dr
- Valentine’s Day = Roses
- Far East Orchid is Far Away By Bus
- Nothing is More Satisfying Than Doing It Myself
Valentine’s Day is back again and this time I’m out of my element. Back in the US, I had a tried and true method of putting together a floral arrangement. But now in a new city, a new country I’m a fish out of water…. a fish that’s slowly evolving.
Google searching brought me across Far East Orchid, a company started out by 3 brothers who slowly grew their company to what it is today:
- An Online Plant Business
- A Fresh Cut Flowers Unit
- Potted Plants for the Home
- And Plant Rentals
Far East Orchid Fresh Cut Flowers Signage
Where Is Far East Orchid?
There’s a number of ways to get here like the MRT or a bus to the closest stop and then walk the rest of the way. This time around, I took the bus which happened to drop me off right in front of it though it took a little longer due to traffic.
Do I need some leaves?
Where to Start
They say that the hardest step is the first one, and they aren’t wrong but to be fair just getting onto the bus took some effort. Finally at the storefront I had to remind myself that, with a limited amount of time, I’m here for a floral arrangement.
Through Far East Orchid’s entrance, I’m greeted with the initial areas of greens and alternative flowers, which as you can imagine are not roses. Given that it’s Valentine’s Day, all the flowers in question that are highlighted for the days main event are stored within their primary refrigerated areas to maintain their freshness for as long as possible.
Wow, who knew these cost so much?
Should I get something other than roses?
These look pretty buuuuuut…
So Many Roses
Bypassing all the other non essential floral paraphernalia, skipping the other flowers, getting right down to the meat and bones of this entire journey, the whole point of this endeavor is to find some roses. It’s just the thing to get for such a day, though I’m sure there are those who would prefer something else; to each their own.
As I move forward, I find myself both a little colder and lot more overwhelmed; there’s roses of every color everywhere!
- Red Roses
- Blue Roses
- Black Roses
- Rainbow Roses
- Peach Roses
- Pink Roses
- Yellow Roses
- White Roses
- Purple Roses
- And every other color in between!
Let’s look at the roses…
There’s so many roses…
WOW!
Those could be interesting…
More traditional colors…
A little too pastel for my tastes…
Final Decision
After elbowing my way through the motley crew of primarily males down some of the narrow pathways to get a better idea of what roses I’m working with. Balancing between size, shape, color and price I finally was able to make my choices before the morning got away from me.
I still have to put this together and get it all to her before lunch. So this is what I got:
- 5 dozen red roses
- 1 handful of Baby’s Breath
Baby’s Breath costing almost as much as roses?
This is my haul: 5 dozen roses and a some Baby’s Breath.
Starting to put it together.
Time to Put It Together
I started with the vase. I had to run around because the roses didn’t fit the vases I had available at home. I lucked out that a local store across the street was able to supply the right sized vase to hold all this floral extravaganza together.
Essentially in a nutshell, my process is the following in a nutshell:
- Take all the roses out
- Trim them down to size
- Start placing them in the vase
- Filling in from one side to the other
- Forming a central area that rises above the perimeter
- Cut the outlying roses stems down to size
- Backfill empty spaces with more roses
- Sprinkle the edge with Baby’s Breath
- Wrap the vase with a bow
I’m by no means a professional florist or anything of that nature, not even an amateur. I just love my wife and hopefully poured my being into this; large, red, obnoxious, and nothing but love…
.
.
.
And a lot of time and YouTube!
After everything was said and done, I finished the arrangement and got it all the way to Nadia’s office. Suffice to say, I made my delivery time and she received it well before end of day… actually I think it was right after lunch. I got a little carried away and lost track of some of the morning.
There it is!
They survived the delivery all the way to her work.
There she is bringing them back home.
I’ll Be Seeing You Next Time FEO
You’re a lifesaver FEO! I’ll be back and hopefully more often than not to peruse and purchase and arrange more of your colorful offerings. Maybe one day, I’ll drag Nadia to your storefront to bask in all your refrigerated glory.
Far East Orchid
- 557 Thomson Rd, Singapore 298181
- +65 6251 5151
- Closest MRT | Caldecott Circle Yellow Line
- Street View
- Hours
What’s your favorite flower?
