### Burgundy roses in Dubai: the word means three different things Burgundy, wine, oxblood, claret, cherry and dark red are used loosely and interchangeably across the trade. One supplier's burgundy is another's dark red, and the same variety turns up under three of those words in a single week. Colour also shifts with the season and the farm. The same variety grown at a cooler time of year comes in noticeably deeper, which is normal and outside anybody's control. A name on an order form therefore carries less information than most people assume. Names are the weakest part of the order. One thing is worth naming out loud, and that is dye. Anything darker than the deepest natural burgundy has been coloured by hand, which adds nothing to vase life, seals the petal slightly where it was sprayed and stops the head opening to full width. It also leaves the underside of the lower petals paler than the face, so a dyed rose is not a worse flower but it is a different one. > "We stopped asking clients which burgundy they mean. We ask what it has to stand next to, and that answer is always more useful." > - JFLOO florist #### What to say instead of a colour name Describe the target by comparison, since comparisons survive the trip between two screens. Darker than a classic red rose, or the same depth but less bright. With or without a purple lean, which is the dividing line between burgundy and dark red. The third comparison is about stage. Say whether the heads should arrive closed and near black or already showing the lighter centre, because that one choice changes a bouquet more than the variety does. Written comparisons survive a handover as well. An order that reads darker than classic red, purple lean, arriving closed means the same thing at six in the morning as it did on the phone the day before. That is worth more than any colour word on the form. There is a fourth comparison people forget to make. A deep bouquet standing against a pale dress is a different order from the same bouquet against a dark suit, and the depth that works in one case is wrong in the other. #### What the city adds to it Dubai puts a practical wrinkle on top. Dutch roses arrive at 60 to 90 cm and Ecuadorian stems reach 120 cm, dark varieties turn up in both groups from different farms in the same week, and two boxes carrying one variety name can sit a visible step apart in depth. We sort those into separate bunches rather than mixing them. On a large order that sometimes means two slightly different bouquets going to two addresses. Orders start from 250 AED. Delivery across the city takes 2 to 4 hours, between 9 AM and 10 PM, and in summer at 40 °C we add insulated packing and keep the bouquet out of direct sun. Dark petals take more heat than pale ones sitting in the same box, which is the one point where this colour needs handling of its own. Where the flowers end up matters as much as how they were packed. Warm lamps in a hotel room out on Palm Jumeirah deepen the shade. The cool ceiling light of a DIFC office flattens it, and the same bouquet then looks like two different orders in two buildings. Payment goes through Apple Pay or cash to the courier. Tell us what the flowers have to sit beside and describe the depth by comparison, and we will name the varieties actually in the cooler that week.