Floral delicatessen shop and May 1st: "The magic of lilacs is like a return to childhood"
I had the opportunity to "interrogate" the masters of a luxury flower shop, bearing the designation floral delicatessen. You can taste their flowers as well! How well did "floral designers" Lukáš Paderta and Albert Friess answer the questions?
What flowers dominate on Labour Day in your opinion?
It's the flowers that are deeply connected to spring and contain that spring freshness and joy. You can feel the life in them, they are mainly late full-flowered tulips, anemones, but also the slightly forgotten lily of the valleys, which with the advent of May begin to show their unmistakably fragrant white bells and, last but not least, all the flowering fruit trees.
What's closer to your heart - Valentine's Day, International Women's Day or May 1st?
It's definitely May 1st, not only because it has more than hundred years of tradition in our country, it is connected with our favourite torn Karel Hynek Mácha, but also because May is a beautiful month. Everything smells beautiful, is buzzing, everything is drowning in fresh colours, is blooming with life. We consider Valentine's Day to be an artificially implemented holiday with a predominantly commercial aspect in our culture. We do not like its "pink heart" aesthetics, and love is definitely closer to flowering May than the chilly grey and sad February landscape.
Do you love lilacs?
The first of May and lilacs belong to each other. We love lilacs for several reasons: for their amazing scent that brings us back to our childhood when we brought them to our mothers, for their opulent inflorescence, which looks incredibly beautiful on its own in a vase. For their limited palette of colours, where all the shades of lilac are in harmony, because of their low demands, since as bushes they tolerate drought and poorer stony soil and have a great appetite for life, and also because we make an amazing pleasantly bitter lilac tonic from their flowers.
What would a luxurious bouquet for May 1st consist of? What would you use to make it?
It would definitely be authentic for the first of May and would consist of lilacs of different shades. And there would be an armful of them to make sure their scent penetrates every cubic centimeter of the interior, or it would be a compact bouquet of several dozen delicate lilacs.
If you want to make a similar bouquet for yourself, the lilacs must be treated with a so-called hot dip in order not to wilt: cut the end of the lilac branch diagonally with a sharp knife and immerse it for ten seconds in hot water (90 ° C), then pull it out and place it in very cold water that you have ready in your vase.
Lilacs will last longer if you remove half of the leaves and add a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of citric acid to the water in the vase. Do not combine lilies with anything, because they will reliably poison any other flower that is in the vase with them, change the water often and wash your hands after contact with them. They are very poisonous, remember that if you have children and pets.
Are flowers affected by trends? Which ones are the most popular?
Certainly, fashion affects flowers also. The present trend is natural-looking flowers, those that have a more wild appearance. Because we are a seasonal flower shop working with such flowers, we can say that there is an interest in all flowers. However, it is true that historical roses and the peonies we cultivate are our "bestsellers" during the season.
What is your day like on May 1st?
What better way to celebrate Labour Day than by working? That's what we've been doing in recent years, because in the spring we have the most work on our flower plots, so we are happy for every day we have. However, when we are not working, we go on a trip on the 1st of May and we won't be lying when we say that we most often like to admire the beauty of the Bohemian Central Mountains, which is also coincidentally the region of Karel Hynek Mácha.
Can you tell us the "recipe" for a breathtaking spring bouquet?
Go out in your garden and nature in May and pick everything that catches your eye, assemble yourself the most colourful and lively bouquet of countless blooming species to do spring justice!
