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Look!: Submerged Flowers

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On a recent trip to Bukhara, our favorite Indian restaurant in Jamaica Plain, we were mesmerized by these flowers living underneath the water. Our first thought was "what a beautiful, novel idea." Incredulous, we asked the staff how long the flowers had been living in there...

 
 

Let us qualify their response by saying we have a terrible Bukhara takeout habit so these guys have come to feel pretty comfortable with us. So, when asked about the shelf life of the underwater flowers, they giggled. A lot. "They're fake." Oh right, of course they are.

We think fake flowers can be pretty tough to pull off but somehow, soaking them in water, makes them alluring. To us. We're confident you'll have a different opinion...

What do you think?

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Look!, inspiration, Vase

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Comments (23)

great in a restaurant for budget minded but attractive decor ... I wouldn't do it in my home.

posted by kimg924 on October 3rd 2008 at 8:55am
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Are you sure they're even in water?
It's probably solid acrylic - a very common thing for fake floral arrangements like this.

posted by bepsf on October 3rd 2008 at 9:02am
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I worked at Fate, an asian fusion restaurant in Downtown Phoenix, and we always had these really incredible flower arrangements. One was almost identical to the one above, and the flowers were indeed real. I'm not sure on how long they lasted because they were changed out every week, regardless.

posted by miss monte on October 3rd 2008 at 9:07am
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I used these same fake orchids (they are from Ikea, $3.99 per stem if I remember correctly) in the cocktail table decorations at my wedding. I cut the flowers off of the stem, submerged a few in glass fishbowl-shaped vases, then floated candles on top. I got TONS of compliments on them - everyone thought they were real. It was a great budget find!

posted by kstarsk on October 3rd 2008 at 9:08am
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Yep, if you've planned a wedding in the last couple years, you'd see that they are very popular centerpiece arrangements. They also look cool with a little floating candle on top.

posted by 2lastnames on October 3rd 2008 at 9:10am
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You can do this with real flowers too. I don't know how long they would last, but my event planner friend does it all the time.

posted by jennifer in sf on October 3rd 2008 at 9:11am
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They're drowning.

posted by whytephoenix on October 3rd 2008 at 9:15am
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At a fancy fundraiser my workplace had they had real flowers in ice. Probably not going to last more than one night, but it made for a very dramatic centerpiece as they melted and the flowers slowly exposed.

(Not to worry, there were reservoirs underneath so they didn't melt all over the tables)

posted by roseslaw on October 3rd 2008 at 9:20am
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Anything that makes floral arrangements look less Sound of Music and more mod is lovely. I like the look of this.

posted by hyacinthine on October 3rd 2008 at 9:21am
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i have done this for several trade show events. depending on the flower... i have used calloloilies, roses and orchids they last up to a week or more for this.

orchids last the longest.

posted by erinkay on October 3rd 2008 at 9:27am
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I've seen the same centerpiece with real flowers at the past 3 weddings that I've been to.

posted by heather lauren on October 3rd 2008 at 9:40am
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I like it... I couldn't tell they are fake... maybe if I have an occasion, but not for everyday.

If you are looking for flowers to use for a center piece for, as stated above, a wedding, you should check online. You can get fresh lei orchids from Hawaii for a reasonable price... and they are REAL!

posted by thelittlestmonster on October 3rd 2008 at 9:46am
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I like this idea, but I'm suck a clutz, I imagine knocking the thing over and spilling water everywhere :/

posted by Craftypants on October 3rd 2008 at 10:13am
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I was at a wedding and the venue had something like this at the bar.

posted by ashleym (aka autzve on flickr) on October 3rd 2008 at 10:32am
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We had groupings of 3 cylinders with submerged purple orchids as centerpieces on half the tables at our July wedding (the other half had tall vases with an explosion of the same orchids at the top)...

posted by Benjy on October 3rd 2008 at 11:55am
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There are certain flowers that do better under water than others - orchids for example, and Spider mums, too. I've seen this done at weddings and it's a terrific way to add interest to a tall arrangement while the rest of the flowers sit on top of the vase.

posted by dianalily on October 3rd 2008 at 12:10pm
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actyally in chicago I saw these kind of arangements in many chick places throughout all summer , they lookes soo refreshing and where real!

posted by chicago_girl on October 3rd 2008 at 2:42pm
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Um, sorry to burst your bubble, but they look fake.

posted by Caitlin in Seattle on October 3rd 2008 at 7:31pm
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Although they probably didn't originate this, but Illiminations had done this years ago with their candle displays. I totally stole the idea for my house, of course. The trick is to find realistic-looking fake flowers and foliage -- if they look fake out of the water, they'll pretty much look fake submerged still.

posted by spiffy on October 4th 2008 at 2:09am
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It's that Winston Flowers look. Although I think Winston's is on to the gathered-bunches-in-square-glass-vases look.

posted by lorieS on October 4th 2008 at 6:50am
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Go Bukhara, these are such a great idea! Not only do they have incredible food, but apparently good design sense! (And don't worry about your take-out habit, this Bukhara warrants the dedication...)

posted by ElizKM86 on October 5th 2008 at 7:35pm
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You can buy cymbidium orchids that will look exactly like these fake ones (but better obviously). You will need to change the water every day or two but they will look great and last a very long time. Sometimes you can get these flowers at Whole Foods for fairly cheap.

posted by jick on October 6th 2008 at 8:58am
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This exact concept (orchids and all) was done by Kittichai, a fancy thai restaurant in SOHO NY, about 4 years ago. It's in the main lounge area...there are about 100 of them for dramatic affect. I thought it looked pretty cool. go to www.kittichairestaurant.com and you will see it in their photo montage.

posted by crazylash on October 13th 2008 at 3:09pm
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