Taking steps to consistently treat your fresh stock is the next step. Like most flowers, stems of bulb varieties should be cut on an angle to increase surface area for absorption. Optimize freshness by always cutting under water to prevent air bubbles in the stems. Use floral preservative faithfully and keep an eye on the quality of the water, changing it when necessary.

Condition spring flowers in cool water at room temperature for one or two hours before storing them in the cooler at 34 to 36 degrees and high humidity (80 to 90 percent). Good air circulation helps prevent bacterial growth.

Spring flowers are sensitive to ethylene, so keep fruits and vegetables out of your floral cooler. If your wholesaler doesn't pre-treat flowers with an anti-ethylene solution, treat them yourself immediately. Speak to your wholesaler about this process and carrying its share of the care and handling process.

Special Treatment
Some spring varieties do require a little TLC. Here's how to maintain the freshest possible stock:

Docking Daffodils: These spring favorites have one small vice - the stems secrete sap when they are first cut. They should not be stored in the same bucket with other flowers because the sap will clog the stems of the other varieties. Keep them separate for several hours, then rinse their stems and change the water in their buckets.

Freeing Freesia: Removing expired flowers on freesia stems will extend the life of opening buds. Handle freesia carefully to avoid bruising or creasing of the petals. Displaying them in small bunches in vases is the best way to avoid damage and show off their delicate blooms.

Handling Hyacinth: When buying hyacinths from your supplier, look for stem ends that haven't been cut during processing, since cutting the stems shortens the vase life of the flowers. The stems should show white on the ends, which you can trim off. Hyacinth stems will grow, so be aware that your arrangements may look larger the day after you created them.

Indulging Iris: While most spring flowers will tolerate dry storage for a day or two, iris must be processed immediately, because if they dry out they may not revive. Be sure to remove the outer sheath leaf spike if it covers the bloom.

Liberating Lily: Always remove the pollen laden anthers from lily blooms. To avoid staining the petals with pollen, remove anthers when the bloom is just starting to open before the pollen is fully developed and dry. Clean lily pollen off your clothes by dabbing or brushing off with a tissue, chenille stem, adhesive tape, or paint brush. Never use water to remove pollen; it causes it to stain.

Taming Tulips: Tulips are one of the more active flowers in your cooler. Like iris, they must be processed immediately for proper hydration. They bend toward the light source, and even if stored in a closed box in the dark, they will bend upward (geotropic bending). In air temperature, their stems continue to grow for about a day and their blooms will open in daylight and close up when placed in the dark.

When storing boxed tulips, turn the box over every day to help the stems remain straight. Bent stems can also be avoided by keeping the plastic sleeves on tulip bunches in buckets. In arrangements, place tulips deep in the arrangement so your design isn't thrown off by their stem growth. If tall tulips are desired, leave them out of cooler for a day before using them in an arrangement. Place arrangements that include tulips in even light or rotate them occasionally, and advise customers to do the same.

Designing Outside the Box
While tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths are traditional choices for spring designs, there are many other varieties you can use for a successful and exciting spring. Some varieties offer distinctive textures, vivid color, or interesting shapes. Others can add scent to arrangements, an important attribute for a consumer market that is lately enamored with aroma therapy.

Astilbe has feathery plumes that add a fresh softness to spring designs. Try using baronia for a bit of whimsy. A member of the heather family, baronia bears many bright pink, bell-shaped florets lined up on woody stems. Paired with blue iris and daffodils, it really pops. Likewise, genesta is a pretty filler of willowy stems covered in small flowers available during the spring and early summer.

Don't forget lilacs. Their scent is unmatched. Whether you use white or purple, lilacs will freshen any spring design. Rumor has it that crushing the stems before placing them in water is required treatment. Don't you believe it! That's horrendous treatment for the delicate lilac. Crushing the stems actually shortens vase life because it damages the structure of water intake vessels.

Old standards are phlox, ranunculus, stock, and sweet peas.