Smilax

The garland that arrives pre-made. Smilax is a true trailing vine — yards of slender stem strung with bright, heart-shaped leaves — and it drapes the way cut garland never quite does, because it grew in the shape designers are trying to fake. Arches, staircase rails, mantels, tent poles, and head-table edges: smilax wraps them in minutes, a fraction of the labor of wiring eucalyptus garland by the foot. Southern weddings have run on it for a century for exactly this reason.

The grow story

Sourced from our curated partner growers in the Ecuadorian and Colombian highlands. Fillers and foliage may grow at lower altitudes than roses, but the cold-chain integrity and grading standards remain consistent with our own production. Smilax is cut to length the day it ships — the vine is at its best fresh, so partner farms harvest against the order rather than ahead of it, and the cold chain does the rest.

At a glance

Best for

Arch and chuppah draping, staircase and banister runs, head-table and mantel edges, tent-pole wraps, and hanging installations where the vine's natural fall does the design work. Smilax is a labor calculation as much as an aesthetic one — what it saves in garland-building hours usually pays for the box. Dress it with focals from our wholesale rose range.

Pairs beautifully with

• White Hydrangea tucked along the vine at focal points
• Vendela (ivory rose) wired in for the classic southern arch
• White Spray Roses for detail along the run
• Baby's Breath clouded between leaves
• Israeli Ruscus to thicken coverage where the vine runs thin

Care notes

Smilax is an event green, not a cooler resident — plan it like produce. Keep it bagged, misted, and cold at 34–38°F until installation, and install within 48 hours of arrival for the best look. Out of water it holds roughly a day in cool rooms, less in heat, so hang it the day before, not the week before. Mist installed runs morning-of. Low ethylene sensitivity; the clock on smilax is hydration, nothing else.

What working pros say

"Smilax is the only reason my crew gets dinner on install nights. Forty feet of staircase, done before the band finishes sound check."

— Event florist, Charleston (15 yrs experience)

"Treat it like lettuce — cold, damp, and used fast. Respect those rules and nothing drapes a southern wedding better."

— Wedding floral designer, Savannah (12 yrs experience)