I've never seen this practice but maybe it's widespread.

Found in the floral department of a grocery, cut amaryllis for sale. $6.99 a stem. They were pretty but I still think it's criminal. Don't know which is worse: cut stems or waxed bulbs.






Sigh.

They are used a lot as cut flowers in Europe.

At least that means no bulbicide was committed by dipping it in wax.

Whoever did it also put sparkles on live poinsettias.

How about carnations, that have been dyed colors not found in nature. Blue carnations always make me cringe.

You don't like blue carnations? Would you like them better with glitter? 😝

I can understand cut stems of blooming amaryllis for those who are impatient or need a quick fix. They were very pretty. I guess the blooms would open or would they? Definitely not going to be re-bloomers.

Oh well. To each their own.

Or how about this grotesque scene I ran across yesterday. Grocery store phalaenopsis spray painted white with glitter. I don't know what genius came up with that but I can't imagine anyone thinking it was "pretty". Poor throw away plants

Now, that is scary! Poor orchids.

Will wonders never cease!

I haven't seen any of those (yet) but I've heard about them. I bet if I get my lazy self to a nursery soon, I'll probably see some of those.

Yes Amaryllis are fairly common over here as cut flowers.

But this time of year really is the pits for spray paint, glitter and other abominations.

All that adhesive in those spray must surely strangle the plant. I doubt the leaves can breathe through that. Unless the underside of the leaf can breathe??

It's their death sentence. Since I'm an orchid collector, I thought my heart was going to stop when I rolled up to the display. It was gross to look at. They phals looked like they had been kept in a freezer or outside in a blizzard and they just froze in place. No color ugh. The sellers of this type of atrocity (anything with paint and glitter) do not have serious home growers in mind so they don't care about the plant. They're just creating glitzy centerpieces for those who will just throw them away in January. BTW safeway charges a fortune for these. So, if people keep buying this crap, the marketers will keep doing this. Sorry to be such a downer. At least the amaryllis will have a chance to open their buds and be their beautiful glorious self.

And, if you have a Naranja amaryllis, the flower actually has gold glitter right in the petals of the flower leafs - no glitter spray needed!!
you will probably click and enlarge the photo to see the "glitter"

. . . and if you are an orchid grower, I bow to you.
I am an orchid serial killer.

I quit killing orchids and have moved on to killing other plants.

I was at my neighborhood Trader Joe's Grocery Store this evening to see if they had any interesting flowers. They usually do. They had a lot of beautiful orchids, none of which had a name. I consider that a crime but that's just a sidebar to what freaked me out so much that I asked to speak to the manager. When you look at the pictures, note that the shelf is almost empty. I guess that's why the manager told me these were healthy and would bloom and were very popular. He just gave me a funny look when I pointed out that they wouldn't ever bloom again.

All you can do is try to educate

Yeah, I don't think they think far enough to figure out that the bulb is doomed. They just think Oh How Gorgeous, and add it to their stock. And then a lot of non-gardeners think the same thing and buy it. And many of those people would throw it away anyway. We are a throw away society - but I do think that is starting to change. So good that you talked to the manager - I also point out the same thing to friends, and they say Oh they did not know that. So just keep spreading the word and make people aware I think.

Thank you @cwhitt. My orchid obsession is fairly new. I've picked up an orchid here and there for the last 20 years and have had many fails. But I became serious about culturing them properly for less than a year now. I have around 30 plants at this point, but if I was able to purchase everything on my wish list that number would double. I've gotten all "sciency" with lighting, ph, tds, feeding/supplementing, humidity etc. Anyway, Nanjara is a beauty! Natural sparkle. What could be better! She's on my wish list for sure.
@tx_flower_child - I've never seen wax coated bulbs before. Why is that a thing? Are they kidding about the "no water needed? That's a crazy way to grow a plant. Who comes up with this stuff?

Not sure, but I first saw them several years ago in a Jackson & Perkins catalog. I immediately thought "but how can that bulb live?? And of course, it cannot - they are meant to be thrown away. An so I will never buy one. Since then, they seem to have taken off - but perhaps it is just a fad. If sales go down, then they will stop making them. I wonder what the amaryllis growers have to say about this fad.