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Anna Pavord, Cornish daffodils, The Curious Gardener, Tregothnan Estate Cornwall, Valentine's Day
Why not buy some daffs this Valentine's Day
So it’s that time of year again, Valentine’s Day, when the colours red and pink take over every shop you walk into, in a celebration of love and romance. I once lived in a town where even the local hardware store covered it’s shop windows in red and pink hearts. I’m not sure whether it just felt left out but I half expected to see a sign inside saying ‘Nothing Says I love You More Than a Cordless Drill’.
Of course, it’s flowers or more specifically, red roses that are still the number one choice of gift for a loved one on Valentine’s Day. The red rose has long been the symbol for love and billions are sold around the world on the 14th February. The deep red, velvety roses are beautiful but I was reading Anna Pavord’s The Curious Gardener recently about her experiences in Ecuador at the flower farms there and it made me wonder whether there was an alternative to the now ubiquitous red rose.
In order to supply the ever increasing demand across the globe Valentine’s Day roses are grown intensively in South America and Africa using chemicals that are banned in Europe, with little attention paid to Health and Safety, causing pollution to the local area and health problems for the workers. The crops are often grown in places where there is the need for irrigation, using up limited water resources and then flown thousands of miles around the world to their final destination. Ethically, red roses get a big thumbs down. You can read more about imported flowers in my previous post about British Cut Flowers.
It got me to thinking about why the rose has become the gift of choice. In the days running up to 14th February you can’t get stirred for dark red roses and the prices charged are eye-watering. When I asked Wellyman what he thought about flowers for Valentine’s Day, he said that a dozen red roses are seen as the done thing, that’s what all women want. But I’m not quite sure where this idea started. Does it really say ‘I love you’ if you and millions of others purchased exactly the same thing? Or does it say ‘I believe this is what global consumerism tells me I am supposed to buy you today’?
So what are the alternatives? Even in February it is possible to get flowers that have been grown in Britain. This is the peak time for daffodils from Cornwall. Cornish Country Flowers for instance, sell 60 stems of daffodils for £16 that will be delivered to your door. How many red roses would you get for £16 and just imagine the house full to the brim of daffodils? The Flower Farm also sell a range of Cornish daffodils which includes a selection of scented Narcissi. Tregothnan Estate, again in Cornwall, have a range of beautiful British grown Valentine’s Bouquets for delivery. It’s also coming into the British tulip season with some stunning colours available from most florists.
So, Wellyman if you’re reading this it’s seasonal, British flowers for me. That should be a bit kinder on the bank balance, too.
I love tulips for Valentine’s day – or candy!
I was unaware, however, of how red roses were grown. I always wondered where the florists got them. Thanks for the illuminating information. My husband, now, really does think “nothing says I love you more than a cordless drill”!!
What an interesting post. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be getting any flowers for Valentines Day, it’s not something we usually celebrate.
Who’d have dreary red roses if you could have Cornish daffodils. I loved Derek Tangye’s books about growing cats and daffodils in Cornwall!
I / we don’t do valentines day. The OH ‘did’ the red rose thing for the first couple of years but then I told him “red roses in February aren’t natural, please don’t buy them for me”. I’m a strange woman!!
A thoughtful post and yes who in the first place suggested red roses were the only symbol of love?
Great post! I’m an avid Go For Local produce and cut flowers are often forgotten in that. I see so many out of season imported flowers at Covent Garden Flower Market, especially at this time of year. The carbon footprint for them must be staggering.
I haven’t read The Curious Gardener, sounds like one I should look out for at the library. I agree that out of season flowers, flown thousands of miles, are ethically wrong. I’m not fond of red roses anyway; they’ve become such a cliché and they don’t even smell nice. Much better to wait and have a single, freshly picked garden rose in the summer that smells heavenly every time you walk past.
Hear! Hear!
Great idea love your blog….:-)
What a wonderful thought provoking post, don’t think many of us realised where red roses came from or under what circumstanses they are grown. My days for receiving red roses are long gone, like Mothers Day, I would rather have a meal cooked for me, with love!
You can adopt a flower for Valentine’s Day at www Plantlife.org.uk. The donation will go towards the conservation of wild flowers.
Thank you for this thought provoking post; my husband works for the FAO in Africa and he sees first-hand how bad it is growing flowers for the ‘rich first world’ market. Farmers are discouraged from growing food crops for themselves and waste water on these roses etc. The chemicals you mention are horrendous causing not only illness but early deaths to the poor workers who are not issued with protective clothing. To some extent growing vegetables to export has some of the same issues. I would love to have daffodils for Valentine’s day or better still a box of chocolates just for me! Christina
Personally I think I’d prefer a simple “I love you” over red roses, on Valentine’s Day or any other day. (And fortunately I do get just that on almost every single day of the year.)
Red roses are beautiful, but I prefer them in our garden, where nobody was harmed during the growing of them, except perhaps a few aphids and a clumsy gardener.
Will have to show this post to himself who quite often on Valentine’s Day buys me an overpriced bouquet from our local florist, which usually has some of these offending roses in. Apart from the lack of scent they look waxy and unreal but more important are the ethical issues your post highlights. As you say daffs would be a welcome homegrown alternative or how about a pot of snowdrops or a basket planted with scented sweet violets. Chocolate too would not go amiss.
Thanks for enlightening me on the sub standards of the flowere growing industry…just say no to red roses!
We don’t really celebrate Valentine’s day, but it’s in Summer here, so at least red roses are in season and local. But they are still ruinously expensive and I wouldn’t want a bunch of the commercially produced ones. I would rather receive a living rose bush that I could enjoy for years. In fact, now I’ve thought of that, I may suggest we start acknowledging Valentine’s Day after all!