Lady's Mantle and Calendula Testing

This season, we've been swooning over the lady's mantle! It's been blooming in full force from multiple farms. As a foliage that's available in large quantities in June, we were curious what to expect from it.

How would it hold up in bouquets out of water?

How does it perform in aisle or ceremony decor on a hot day?

We conducted a vase life test both in and out of water, as well as in Agrawool, to test its strength. We were already in love with the chartreuse color, fun texture, and now, its hardiness!

Calendula is a sweet disk shaped accent flower that also blooms in June. It's availability in the warm color range of yellow, apricot, orange, and bronze fills a specific need this time of year. It's been coming in the past few weeks on nice tall stems and we've been curious to see how it performs under the same conditions.

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Bouquet/Heat Test

Before:

Lady's Mantle & Bronze Calendula

Out of water on the left & in water on the right.

Temp about 80 degrees.

15 minutes later, we added a third variable: Agrawool.

1.5 Hours Later

Observations: Some calendula out of water is flopping. All stems in water and in Agrawool are still happy.

80-85 degrees in the shade.

4 Hours Later

Observations: Calendula stems out of water are wilted or dried out. The lady's mantle isn't wilted, but it's turning down significantly.

Stems in the water and Agrawool are still looking strong despite the heat.

8 Hours Later

Observations: Lady's mantle in water & Agrawool remains strong.

The lady's mantle out of water dried up instead of flopping, still holding a lot of shape and color.

We even found the lady's mantle dry instead of flopped the next day!

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Results

We were pleased to find out the lady's mantle lasted outside without any trouble! The stems without water also dried in place, giving us confidence about using lady's mantle in outdoor designs or vase arrangements.

We found that the calendula lasted for a shorter time. About one hour without water, and the calendula were noticeably less happy. The strength of individual stems varied, which could be because of the stage at which each stem was harvested. In water or Agrawool, the stems were strong for about 4 hours. By the end of the day, the stems in Agrawool were crunchy.

Overall, keeping stems in water will yield the best results, as expected!