# Conditioning happens before anybody sees the flowers

> A florist's conditioning chart is a record of work nobody will ever notice was done. The only proof is that the arrangement is still alive on Thursday.

August 19, 2026 · https://justog.club/stories/florist-conditioning-list

A ruled chart, three columns: stem, cut, water. Roses, tulips, peonies, lilies, hydrangeas,
sunflowers, daisies, carnations, each with a figure against its name.

None of it is visible in the finished bunch. Every bit of it happened before anyone saw the
flowers at all.

## Why does a flower need conditioning before it's arranged?

Because a cut stem starts dying the moment it's cut, and conditioning is what slows that down.

A stem sealing over, air locking a channel, bacteria building up in the water — any of these stop
the flower drinking properly, and a flower that isn't drinking wilts long before its colour fades.
Conditioning is the set of small mechanical steps that keep the stem taking up water for as long as
possible. None of it shows in the finished arrangement. All of it decides how long the arrangement
lasts.

## Why does the water temperature change by stem when the cut angle doesn't?

Because the angle and the temperature are solving two different problems.

Every stem on this chart is cut at 45 degrees, because that angle opens the most surface for
drinking regardless of what the stem is. The water temperature is chosen against the stem itself —
hot, around 110F, for a woody rose that needs the heat to draw water up fast; cold, 40F, for a
tulip that would otherwise keep growing and bending in the vase overnight. Same tool, different
setting, because the flowers aren't the same plant.

## What does the sear arrow at the hydrangea row mean?

A second step, beyond the cut and the water, for a stem that wilts without it.

Hydrangeas are marked with a star and an arrow reading sear the ends — the cut end goes briefly
into heat before the stem goes into water, which is a separate action from setting the water
temperature and applies to a stem that collapses if it's skipped. Roses carry the same star for
the same reason: they're the two stems on this chart that need more than the chart's two columns
alone provide.

## Can I use a real florist's own conditioning chart?

Not somebody else's actual document, though the technique itself is a fact, not a secret.

Cut angles and water temperatures by species are horticultural knowledge, the same way
[a mix ratio is a fact rather than a brand](/stories/plasterer-mix-ratio). A named florist's
own printed chart, with their layout and their hand, is a different thing — licensable if that
shop is the actual point of the shirt.

## Does the list work for one stem, or only for a whole shop?

Both — the chart scales down without losing anything.

A wedding florist running eight species through a morning needs the full table. Someone with one
cutting garden and a single stem they grow every year needs one row of it, which is just as
specific and just as real a document.

## Isn't this just backroom admin, not worth printing?

It's exactly the work worth printing, because nobody else will ever see it.

The customer sees the finished bunch and assumes it arrived that way. The conditioning is the part
of the job with no audience at all — no compliment for a correctly seared hydrangea stem, no credit
for the right water temperature. The only evidence any of it happened is that the arrangement is
still standing on Thursday.

## Does it print well?

Yes — a ruled table with short figures is straightforward artwork.

Black for the ruled lines and stem names, one dusty pink for the star and the sear arrow, on a sage
ground, keeps the chart legible at a glance. The figures are the fine element and want setting a
touch larger than a real chart would, so they don't
[drop below the weave's floor](/stories/bold-shapes-survive-fabric).

## How do I get one made?

Describe the chart at [JustOG](/) — which stems, which figures, and what to flag with a star. Pick
a direction, drag the crop frame, see it composited on the real garment, and it's made to order and
shipped.

Designs other people have published are in the [shop](/shop).

Nobody compliments a correctly conditioned stem. They just don't notice it dying.