Tonight is a special night; we welcome home family, and family friends who are visiting the Philippines for the first time… So the household has been abuzz preparing for the visit. Early this morning, I decided to drive down to wholesale flower market to see if there were some flowers to make a couple of small arrangements. It was a risky move, as Mondays are typically NOT a good flower day, and upon arrival, it was quickly apparent that there were hardly any flowers on display or for sale in the stalls, perhaps just 20% of what’s on offer on a Thursday or Friday…
And just two weeks after Valentine’s and days after the big flower festival in Baguio, I guess this was tempting the fates. A quick walk down the entire length of market seemed to confirm the dire flower stock levels. Until I got to my rose suki and they had lots of colorful roses (not red or white, the most common and plentiful) that were probably a day or two old. The shortest stemmed roses still looked good, and a long dip in cool water would revive them, so I decided to bargain… and was surprised that the vendor agreed to PHP25 for a bunch of two dozen roses. I ended up buying some 25 bundles or roughly 550-600 blooms for about PHP600! At about one peso per bloom, that’s a wickedly good price, wickedly good.
Armed with that “anchor” purchase of colorful blooms in orange, fucshia and mixed roses, we got 10 bunches of purple statis, lots of light yellow green mums, and some green berries on their last days or so. Total expenditure for this bounty that nearly filled the back of the car? About PHP1,200 or roughly USD27 or so. :)
Purple statis, that dry nicely by the way, are usually too intense in color for me, but seemed light a bright addition to the colors today.
Pink and fuschia roses en masse.
Chartreuse mini-mums.
Orange roses. Not photographed, some mixed roses, red roses, green “berries” and some leaves.
Back at home, an antique planter, filled with a glass vase…
…the resident lab florist, Ginger, ready to show off… :)
…and a few minutes later, a low tight, all flower arrangement for a corner of the living room. it is intense, but actually quite easy to do. I didn’t even bother to remove the roses from their original bundles. Just conditioned them in cool water, then propped them in the vase filled with water and flower food…
Another snapshot of the arrangement, with a peek of a freshly baked pie on the side. The total diameter of the arrangement exceeds two feet!
We don’t usually make arrangements this intense and colorful; but with blooms at near giveaway prices this morning, this made for a special treat for a special welcome home for family and guests. We had enough flowers leftover for several other arrangements.
35 Responses
So pretty! I never really liked roses or flowers before…. but wow. I hope you don’t mind if I’d use one of your pictures as my wallpaper. The colors are intense but the arrangement is just beautiful.
WOW! and such a steal!
wow!!!! so beautiful……
Stunning flower arrangements make me weak in the knees. I like the quarter-top shot of the second photo. =)
Stunning and gorgeous!!! Love it… always love those colors for roses. Not a big fan of red roses but will go for those deep black-red roses. I especially love the price you paid for all of it!
Such happy colors! Matches the sizzling Manila temperatures.
Very soothing!
Lovely! A wonderful fragrance around the house too!
I hope a post on a special welcome home meal is up next? Hehehe. :)
Php25?????!! What a bargain! My favorite color for roses are from yellow to orange! They brighten up my day everytime I see them… Haaaaay… ang ganda!
Exquisitely beautiful..i am in awe what you can do with flowers! Love the play of colors ..will “try” the arrangement sometime this summer.Flowers at Pikes market are beautiful..but can’t get a bargain like yours:):) imagine if you live here in Pacific NW ..Pikes M will be your go to for flowers^_^ This winter i resort to orchid plants with blooms, they last 3 months,if i get lucky ..will re-blooms.Stunning arrangement!! Enjoy your the family and friends on their visits.
$27 for all that is amazing… I paid 7 stems of lilies for €18 in France.
Believe it or not, the request for the midnight snack was grilled cheese and tomato soup… not exactly a fancy welcome meal, but comfort food after a very long flight… :)
Love the colors!
BEEEEAUTIFUL! two feet in diameter?! the price of the flowers, plus, their colors, not to mention the food in store for the guests = over-the-top WOW! ???
This post on flowers made my day! I just love flowers!
By way, I was able to finally try out Zubuchon over the weekend. All dishes that we ordered were simply delicious and the Kamias Shake was just divine! Please, please, please consider opening in Manila.
Very pretty. I like that it’s low and wide.
Hope to read upcoming posts on how you entertained your visitors :) With the temperatures we are having now, an out of town trip is a must!
Beautiful! I hope you don’t mind MM, the 1st photo is now my wallpaper!
Absolutely gorgeous arrangement. So simple and yet so elegant. Spring has arrived.
Lovely!! I love those multi-colored roses. :)
wow! i love flowers. you really have a very nice way of putting different flowers into a spectacular flower arrangments.
Welcome home!
great flower arrangement, MM! your guests will love it.
MM, Beautiful flowers to brighten our days.
Flower posts are some of my favorites coming from you. These are beautiful!
Colors that surely cheer up my day!
the resident florist is too cute for words, any close-up pose?
With those bright and perky colours, those flowers would surely wake me and cheer me up if I were part of the visiting group. And perhaps a glass of chilled dalandan juice, please : )) You are an extremely thoughtful and imaginative host! Your first-time visitors would have a fantastic and an unforgettable Philippine experience.
Cheers!
Wow, so beautiful! MM, what is flower food and where do you buy that? thanks
Breathtaking indeed and so inexpensive. Love, love. love flowers! It’s warm enough here in NW Florida so I started my flower garden March 1. I paid more than $250 for 3 fully bloomed 4′ tall bouganvillas, 8 pots of big size geraniums in reds and whites and 16 pots gerbera daisies.
gorgeous post marketman! i like that the flowers are not perfect – they actually look more beautiful that way
it looks like my comment yesterday did not succeed to post. anyways, what i wanted to say was i love the colors and the arrangement! very beautiful :)
WoW….WoW…the color combinations really blended well and so vivid ! And the price was really a steal!
hi i’m candy from Cagayan de Oro City, may we ask where did you bought those flowers? :D may we know their contact #? pleasssseeeeee :D . Thank you
Candy, visit the Dimasalang wholesale flower market in Sampaloc, Manila for a large selection of blooms. I do not have their contact numbers.