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How Long Do Long-Stem Roses Last? What We Saw Choosing Them in Quito
- Jessica Nuñez
- Published
- Updated 8 October 2026
The day they were still there
What we saw choosing long-stem roses in Quito, at Expo Flor Ecuador 2026 and a farm in Tabacundo.
- Order by 5:00 PM Monday to Friday, 1:00 PM Saturday, for same-day delivery
- Designed in our Doral studio, delivered by our own drivers
The Thursday after the anniversary, the vase on the kitchen counter, the heads still opening while the rest of the week went back to normal. That second memory is decided long before anyone signs a card. It is decided on a farm almost 3,000 meters up, and in every cold hour between there and the door.
This October, Jessica and Nelson, the two owners of My Divine Decors, went to Ecuador as accredited flower buyers: to Expo Flor Ecuador 2026 in Quito, and to J&M Flowers, a rose farm in Tabacundo, to see the whole process with our own eyes. We did not go to exhibit. We went to see where it starts.
The short answer
A long-stem rose that was grown well and kept cold the whole way lasts seven days or more in a vase at home, and two weeks is not unusual if the water is changed and the stems are recut. In a University of Florida trial for the American Floral Endowment, 16 rose varieties lasted between 10 and 20 days in water with flower food. Most of the difference between a rose that lasts two days and one that lasts two weeks happens before you ever see it.
Three days in Quito, with a buyer’s badge
Expo Flor Ecuador 2026 ran October 6 to 8 at the Metropolitan Convention Center of Quito: 130 exhibitors, from rose breeders and farms to cargo agents and airlines, and more than 2,500 buyers from 73 countries, according to the organizers. Ecuador is the world’s third largest flower exporter, behind the Netherlands and Colombia. It shipped USD 1,045 million in flowers in 2025, a record, and roses are about three quarters of it.
A buyer’s badge means walking the rows, holding stems, opening heads between your fingers and asking the questions that never make it into a catalog. How was it cut. How long was it cooled. How will it travel.
A day at J&M Flowers, in Tabacundo
Tabacundo sits at 2,877 meters, north of Quito, and people there call it the world capital of the rose. J&M Flowers was founded in 1995 by Tatiana Morales and Willan Vaca. They started with carnations, planted their first roses in 1997, and today grow 23 varieties on one farm and 40 on a second one, for buyers in the United States, Russia, Italy and France.
We went to see the whole process, from the greenhouse to the box. It starts outside, past the reservoir that holds the farm’s water and a tall wooden windbreak. Inside the greenhouses: long beds under plastic, numbered wooden posts, drip lines along the ground, yellow harvest baskets at the end of the rows, and rose plants as tall as we are, the buds still closed.
Then the post-harvest room, the part nobody pictures. Roses hung by color on white tiered racks, coral, white, cream, fuchsia. Stems coming down a conveyor belt. People in green uniforms wrapping each bunch in protective cardboard and laying the heads into boxes with the farm’s name on them. One of them held up a finished bunch to show us where the stems come out uneven, and how a bunch gets completed stem by stem before it is closed.
By the door, a vase of a variety the farm labels Dragonfly: coral, ruffled, open like a garden rose, next to white ones. Out front, the loading dock and the J&M truck.
Where our roses come from
We buy our roses from Jet Fresh Flower Distributors, an importer a few minutes from our studio in Doral that also grows its own roses in Ecuador, at 3,200 meters. This week we stopped by their booth at the fair too. It is a short chain on purpose: the fewer hands and warm hours between the farm and our studio, the longer the rose stays open in a vase.
Why altitude shows up in your vase
Most Ecuadorian roses grow between 2,800 and 3,000 meters. At that altitude, according to the rose breeder De Ruiter, a rose can take up to 15 weeks to grow instead of about 8 at sea level. Slower growth gives a longer, thicker stem and a larger head. Those are the things you notice when a hundred roses still stand straight on day five.
The part nobody sees: cold
Nearly nine out of ten flowers imported into the United States come in through Miami International Airport. The flight from Quito takes about four hours. What decides the vase life is what happens around that flight: cut, cooled, packed, flown and held cold, without a single warm stretch.
In a study by researchers at UC Davis and the University of Florida, the same roses lasted twice as long when they were stored at 35°F than at 49°F. Every warm hour is a day taken from the vase.
Our studio is in Doral, a few minutes north of the airport. Arrangements are built the morning they go out, our own driver takes them in a refrigerated van, and you see a photo of yours before it leaves.
How to tell, the day they arrive
- Press the head gently. It should feel firm, not soft or hollow.
- Look at the outer petals. One or two slightly marked guard petals are normal: growers leave them to protect the bloom, and they can be removed.
- Check the stems. Straight, firm, cleanly cut.
- Check the leaves. Green, with no black edges.
Making them last at home
- Recut about an inch off each stem, at an angle, before the first drink.
- Use a clean vase, cool water and the flower food that comes with the bouquet.
- Remove any leaf that would sit under the water.
- Change the water every two days and recut each time.
- Keep them away from direct sun, heat, air conditioning vents and the fruit bowl. Ripening fruit releases ethylene, which ages flowers.
If it should still be there next winter
Some gifts are meant to outlast the week. Preserved roses are real roses, cut at their peak and treated so they hold for one to three years without water. Ours come from Ecuador and Colombia. See our preserved roses in Miami.
Which one, for which moment
A hundred roses in hand, for when it has to be said in person. A grand box, for the room where it will be seen first. A heart, for when the message is already clear.
Ramo Buchon Rose Hand Bouquet, 12 to 150 Fresh Roses, Waterproof Paper Wrap
Price range: $80.00 through $650.00
The Reflexed Rose Seduction Hat Box
Price range: $220.00 through $320.00
Hand Bouquet of Roses & Gold Leather Leaves ramo buchon
Price range: $130.00 through $820.00Quick answers
How long do long-stem roses last?
Seven days or more in a vase at home when they were grown well and kept cold the whole way, and two weeks is not unusual with fresh water and a recut every two days. In a University of Florida trial for the American Floral Endowment, 16 rose varieties lasted between 10 and 20 days.
Are Ecuadorian roses better?
They are known for long stems and large heads, which come from growing at altitude. Colombia, the largest flower supplier to the United States, also grows excellent roses. What decides how long yours last is the variety and whether the rose stayed cold from the farm to your door.
Why are long-stem roses more expensive?
A longer stem needs a longer crop: at altitude a rose can take up to 15 weeks to grow instead of about 8, according to the breeder De Ruiter. A longer, heavier stem also costs more to fly and keep cold.
Can I order roses directly from Ecuador to the United States?
Farms sell by the box to importers and florists, and almost every imported rose enters through Miami International Airport. To send an arranged bouquet to someone’s door you need a florist who receives the roses, conditions them and designs them. That is the part we do in Doral.
Where do your roses come from?
We buy them from Jet Fresh Flower Distributors, an importer in Doral that also grows its own roses in Ecuador at 3,200 meters. In October 2026 we visited J&M Flowers in Tabacundo, Ecuador, to see the whole process from greenhouse to box, and met Jet Fresh at Expo Flor Ecuador 2026 in Quito.
How long does a rose take to travel from the farm to Miami?
The flight from Quito to Miami takes about four hours. Cut, cooled, packed, flown and cleared, a rose usually reaches a Miami florist a few days after it was cut, and every hour of that trip should be cold.
Where can I get long-stem roses delivered the same day in Miami?
My Divine Decors designs them in our studio at 7276 NW 58th St in Doral, and our own driver delivers across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. Order by 5:00 PM Monday to Friday or 1:00 PM Saturday for same-day delivery. Sunday delivery runs 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM for orders placed before 1:00 PM Saturday, with a $30 Sunday fee. You see a photo before it leaves. 4.9 on Google, with 260+ reviews.
A rose that dies on Saturday says it was bought on Friday. One that is still opening the following week says someone thought about it long before.
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