Cold chain
The unbroken run of cool storage and transport that keeps cut flowers fresh from farm to shop.
A cut flower is alive and still using up its reserves. Cooling slows that down. In a good cold chain, flowers are chilled soon after cutting, then kept cool in the packing shed, the truck, the airport store, the aircraft hold and the wholesaler's cooler. A few hours of heat at any point shortens vase life. This system is what lets roses cut in Kenya or Colombia reach shops in Europe or North America within days. Some tropical flowers are damaged by too much cold.