Everything you need to know about tiare flower harvesting

The endemic flower of French Polynesia grows all year round. Here we reveal all the secrets of how to harvest it, both for necklaces and for making monoi.

How is the Tiare flower harvested?

There's only one true way to harvest tiare flowers. It's the ancestral hand-picking method. Indeed, no one is better placed than a trained eye to pick the buds needed to make monoi.

Today, the flowers are harvested at dawn, before 6am. The day dawns very early and the sun's rays stimulate the flowering process. When picked, the flowers are green. They will turn white as the days go by. As a general rule, a bud picked on the morning of D-Day will be almost fully opened the next morning, displaying its famous white color.

Although tiare flower bushes grow wild and easily just about everywhere, many are now cultivated on private plots. In fact, laboratories and boutiques are very much in demand. Having a plantation at your disposal means you can pick the flowers at the best of times, and always by hand.

When are Tiare flowers harvested?

In the past, the mamas would get up at the crack of dawn to go and pick the tiare flowers in the mountains or in remote areas. It was rarely later than 4 a.m. when they wandered into the wild, basket in hand. Now, the harvesters do it a little earlier, around 5:30 - 6:00 a.m., before sunrise.

Generally, the buds are collected just before they hatch, in their Ua pua te tiare form. They are used to make making monoï. As for the open flowers, they are used as ornaments for necklaces, plant jewelry or simply to decorate homes. Harvesters also sometimes have to pack buttons for shipment to the four corners of the world.

Tiare flowers bloom very quickly (within a day). Unfortunately, they also die very quickly, as their lifespan never exceeds 48 hours at most. For this reason, they must be picked daily.

Growing Tiare flowers at home: a difficult challenge, but not impossible

If you miss the scents of Polynesia, you can always bring it home by growing a tiare flower shrub at home. But beware: this requires a great deal of care and attention, as it's a very fragile crop and not at all suited to our climate.

In some garden centers, you can find plants with roots or in containers. It is advisable to plant them in humidified peat boxes from spring onwards. The plant requires plenty of humidity and a minimum winter temperature of 20 degrees. Although sun exposure is also essential, flowers can burn in midsummer!

As the Tiare flower grows under high humidity, a veranda will be welcome to house the shrub all year round (except in summer, when it can remain outside). However, to keep the blossoms in bloom, we recommend spraying the leaves with seawater at least once a day (preferably in the evening, so as not to burn the flowers and leaves).