Posted by: scentandviolet March 18th, 2025

The best selling flower, symbol of love and respect, rose is one of the most admired flowers. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most (unfairly) bashed flowers. How many times have we heard: “Why should I buy roses? They are going to die anyway…” Roses are classic, beautiful, and bestselling flower for a reason. When you are as popular as a Rose, people will talk about you. At the same time, we can't help but wonder: How long should roses last? 

If you bought or received some pretty roses, you’ll want them to last longer, and our most often asked questions are: 

• How long should roses last? 
• How do we keep them alive? 

Here to answer some of these questions:

Many factors influence rose life, that can be anywhere between 4 and 12 days, such as rose variety, grade, color, post-harvest care, transit conditions, at-home care.

Rose Variety: A rose variety or cultivar is a specific type of rose, distinguished by unique characteristics like flower color, shape, size, fragrance, and growth habit, resulting from selective breeding and cross-pollination of different rose species or varieties. How does it affect vase life? Freedom Red cultivar will last longer than Sexy Red cultivar, and both will last longer than Red Hearts cultivar. Yet, any of these 3 should have vase life between 7-12 days depending on other factors; Standard Rose will last longer than Mini Spray Rose, and both will last longer than Premium Garden Rose.

Rose grade: Roses are graded based on stem length and thickness, cut stage, and quality. It is a complex process best left to growers but here is the grade sample (from 1-5): 1. domestic only, 2. mass market grade, 3. florist A grade, 4. florist AA grade, 5. florist AAA grade; Florist AAA will have the longest vase life, and Domestic Only will have the shortest grade life. Domestic only grade is often shipped direct in a box. Mass Market is found in grocery stores, Florist A and Florist AA is used by your Retail florists, Florist AAA is grown and shipped mostly for the major floral holidays; Each one of these will have a vase life between 5-12 days

Rose Color: Certain colors will last shorter than others. Example: Medium Pink Rose will typically last longer than Hot Pink Rose and Light Pink Rose. Red rose will last longer than Peach Rose.

Post-Harvest care: Post-harvest care is a 3-fold process that include: grower care, distributor care, retailer care. It is expected that specialty rose distributors and your local florist will provide better care and handling of roses than grocery store chains. At Scent & Violet, we work with proven rose farms. Our transit is provided and organized by US and Local flower experts. We test new varieties for both performance and vase life, not to mention our own post harvest care.

There are many more factors that can influence the vase life of a rose: climate, water hardiness, display conditions, but lets not go in too deep.

After we’ve done our part, and the flowers are in your home – roses require at least minimal care:

One of the ways is to ensure your roses stay as fresh as possible: do not expose your roses to direct sunlight, keep them away from draughts, and ensure they have enough clean water in the vase.

Roses, as many other flowers provide joy and solace. Their intent is to evoke warm and happy feelings around heart – not to cause aggravation.

TL:DR

Different cultivars of roses will have different vase life. Standard roses will last longer than garden roses. Certain varieties and colors will last longer, e.g. red rose will last longer than white one. Premium grade roses, found in floral arrangements designed by professional florists will last longer than mass-market roses.

With proper minimal care roses will last:

Mini roses: 4-8 days

Garden roses: 3-7 days

Standard roses (florist grade): 5-12 days

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Scent & Violet, flowers and gifts is a full service florist in Houston, TX offering flower, plant and gift delivery in Houston, Katy, Richmond, Fulshear, Sugar Land and Bellaire. We aim to create fuss-free, everyday shopping source for flowers, plants, and gifts. It is our belief that we can create better relationships through gifting, better environments through plants, and better state of mind through flowers.