primrose posy
Valentine’s Day, one of the busiest times for flower sellers across the world is approaching. You can’t get stirred for the ubiquitous red rose, deemed the perfect expression of love, but it’s a gesture that comes at a considerable cost. Whilst the creep of supermarkets into the world of floristry has made a bouquet of roses more affordable for the masses, demand means a single stem can still cost into double figures from your high-end florists. But it’s not just the impact on your bank balance there’s the cost to the environment too.
Ten or fifteen years ago a revolution in food started here in the UK. We started to appreciate locally produced food for its freshness, seasonality and provenance. I really hope that we can start to care that little bit more about the flowers we buy too. Most flowers for sale in the UK are imported, grown in far-flung countries using chemicals often banned here in the EU. The environmental impact can be huge, depleting the local area of its water resources and damaging eco-systems. Flowers are beautiful and I can’t imagine not being able to have them in my home but let’s face it, they are non-essential. And, for that reason, I think we should care about the environmental cost of the flowers we buy even more. It feels even more careless that an indulgence should damage the planet. Taking a stance and refusing to buy imported blooms doesn’t mean you have to do without though. Caring for the planet doesn’t have to mean donning a hair shirt, it’s about taking a look at what we have closer to home and sourcing British grown flowers or growing your own.
The environmental cost isn’t the only reason why I dislike imported flowers. Even if the roses came with a zero carbon footprint I wouldn’t want them. They speak little of a thoughtful gift and a declaration of love and more of the way big business dictates to us what we can buy. It was the Victorians that first made a big deal about Valentine’s Day, but before the advent of air travel lovers would have had no choice but to exchange small posies of spring flowers. It’s only really been in the last twenty to thirty years where flowers have become a commodity to be traded on a global scale.
Imported roses always look fake to me. They never open fully and, worst of all, they have no scent whatsoever. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I know for some nothing other than a red rose, or a dozen of them, will do. But there are alternatives, blooms which are seasonal and scented, which will bring spring cheer to a gloomy, soggy February. It’s hard to believe when you look out the window on to a garden that is muddy and forlorn that it is possible to substitute those imported flowers for home-grown blooms, but it is. Our reliance on imported flowers has disconnected us from the seasons.
Valentine’s heart
Walking around my garden the other day I was able to pick a small posy of primroses. I added a few ivy leaves and tied with twine and there you have it – the sweetest and simplest of flowery gifts. All the stormy weather we’ve had recently means it’s a great time to go out and collect windfall stems. Weeping birch is perfect for making wreaths because it’s so bendy. I collected these on Friday and bent them into a heart shape, securing at the base. Scouring the garden again I picked some scented stems of Viburnum bodnantense, Viburnum tinus, sacococca and winter honeysuckle. I tied these into the base along with some ivy which I wound around the heart. A home-grown, hand-made and completely free (well apart from the twine) Valentine’s gift. Pop it in a vase or jug of water and it’ll last a week. Plan ahead and you could also have early flowering daffs or any number of bulbs in pretty pots.
Now I know that men purchase the vast majority of flowers on Valentine’s Day and some of them are possibly not going to be scrabbling around in the garden for flowers and making wondrous woven hearts, but that doesn’t mean red roses have to be the default alternative. Subtly or not so subtly, depending on how you approach these things in your relationship, point him in the direction of the increasing number of amazing flower farmers here in the UK. They are springing up all over the country and many deliver too. To find your nearest try the Flowers from the Farm website or The British Flower Collective. It might seem bleak and bare out there but even in February we have British grown scented narcissi, tulips, hyacinths, pussy willow, muscari and hellebores to choose from. So this Valentine’s Day say it with British flowers.
wellywoman 
Well said!
Thank you! 🙂
Absolutely love your Valentine’s heart with the collection of your garden plants. Lovely to have winter scent in amongst it all too. N x
Hi Naomi, Thank you. I’m always surprised at how many scented plants there are at this time of year. And it’s so miserable outside, it’s much better to bring them indoors.
It is absurd that we are flying in flowers from South America and Kenya that will last just a few days. But then so much of the modern, free trade world is. I’d much prefer your primrose posy. Dave
It is crazy but you’re right so much is. I don’t really want to dwell on it as it makes me so frustrated. Much better to pick some flowers and appreciate them in the warm and dry.
Love your Valentine’s heart rather than those rose buds that don’t open. And, I always find it interesting to ‘shop’ for flowers a week before or after Valentine’s Day versus the actual day – talk about gouging. Buying local and in season warms the heart and the wallet. Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours. ♡
Thanks Judy. That is the problem with specific ‘days’. Demand is at a peak and therefore the price rises. Same with Christmas and the sales which follow. It’s all a bit bonkers really.
Yes, yes, yes! Plus I’m sure that if people started really asking for British flowers at the supermarket or florist and NOT purchasing if there aren’t any, slowly you would start to see what was wanted in the shops. It is the same as wanting GOOD food that tastes of something rather than just looks nice. I was told by a florist here that freesias don’t have a perfume!!!!! They used to rose roses and other flowers on the Riviera here but not any more, sadly we are told imports are cheaper. As long as transporting by air doesn’t have its true cost they will continue to import from Holland (bad enough) but more critically from poor African countries where as you say they use terrible pesticides and herbicides with little regulation and use their most valuable resource – water.
Imports are cheaper but it isn’t a fair playing field. If aircraft was taxed in the same way petrol is the world would be a very different place. I know there are attempts to make flower growing in Africa more eco-friendly. Some Dutch companies are piloting schemes where the flowers aren’t flown but shipped by sea to Europe. Apparently this reduces the carbon footprint by almost 90%. Of course the flowers have to be kept refrigerated and I just don’t think flowers kept cool like this for long periods look good.
I’m in total agreement, flowers as well as food should be local. Have you read the book “The 50 Mile Bouquet” by Debra Prinzing? It is an American book, but when I first read it, I wondered if we had something similar here, I now know that we have, but I can’t find any flower farms down here in Devon, maybe we have but I have missed any adverts. I will be setting aside some space to grow my own this year as I hate cutting them from the garden.
That book is on my ‘to read’ list. There is a growing movement here in the UK similar to that in the US. I’ll ask around on twitter and see if anyone knows of a Devon flower grower. If not there’s clearly an opportunity there. Mmm … wonder if we could move to Devon. 😉
I’d much prefer either of your offerings to roses. There’s something much more romantic about a simple posy tied with string then a whopping great bouquet, though I’d be gobsmacked if any turned up here on Valentine’s Day.
Thank you Jo. I completely agree. The big dramatic gesture isn’t necessary when something smaller with more thought can mean so much more. :0 I don’t tend to get flowers either, although I’m not bothered by this. That is one of the downsides to growing your own flowers though – nobody buys you flowers any more.
Lovely 🙂
Totally agree with your view on imported flowers! A simple home grown posy has so much more appeal than a mass produced bunch, even before taking environmental issues into account. Seasonality is one of the great joys of our food – think of asparagus and homegrown strawberries – which is sadly ebbing away nowadays. Flowers are no different. And I love your heart shaped arrangement! So imaginative, and scented too! I must be more creative with my future indoor “arrangements”. Looking forward to your book for inspiration!
Thank you. Seasons are one of the joys of where we live and it’s such a pity we don’t celebrate them more with our flowers and plant material. Why would you just want carnations, roses and lilies all year round? Really hope the book gives you some ideas. :))
I’m sure it will! I have been looking on the web for your book, and, as I’m a member, I checked out the R.H.S. site as well. There it was – available for sale from its launch date. I feel that’s quite an endorsement! So now it’s ordered! This is this your first book, right? And I also noticed from your “about me” page, that you have also written for “Gardens Illustrated”, which I often get. Any particular issues? Sorry about the 20 questions, but I’m very interested in your freelance work and would love to try my hand at it myself!
Well said WW. I must confess to displaying various vases of flowers in the house at the moment given to me by friends & colleages whilst I am convalesing & even though these wont be home grown they do look lovely. My favourites though are a cheery bunch of daffodils brought home by my other half which I did notice had a British label on them.
It’s lovely having lots of flowers around to cheer you up. Hope you’re starting to feel better. xxx
Hear, hear. Feel free to send me your Valentine heart, it’s lovely. D
:0 Thanks Dorris.
I find it sad that the world took the wrong road not so long ago with regard to cut flowers, among many things, as this excellent post perfectly illustrates.
Affordable elegance has lost out to costly extravagance with little thought as to present, or perhaps more worrying, future consequences. xx
Thank you Flighty. I love that last sentence of yours. Sums it up perfectly. x
Well said, nothing to add. And who’d want a rose bouquet in February? Me certainly not.
Thank you Annette. Roses should be blowsy and beautiful like an English cottage garden and not all tight and screwed up like most of the ones you can buy.
I completely agree. I love British flowers, and I love understated native plants as well. Unfortunately nobody will be buying me flowers any time soon, but I hope that British florists do well this Valentine’s day.
Thanks CJ. Sorry you won’t be getting any flowers. To be honest I don’t tend to be given any now. It is the downside to growing my own. Maybe you should treat yourself to some. We all deserve to treat ourselves occasionally. :))
Great article. Now all we have to do is to persuade the public that we really can grow British flowers that will keep, with the right conditioning etc
Thanks Roz. Hopefully we can change attitudes and ideas. I’m hoping my book when it comes out in a few weeks will help to do that a little.
Excellent post, WW, and as I have found for my ‘In a vase on Monday’ posts there is always something in the garden that can be utilised in this way. Having started it in mid November, I haven’t failed yet!
Thanks Cathy. It is surprising isn’t it how much is out there to bring indoors, even in the bleakest of weather? 🙂
your Valentine heart is glorious! I much prefer whatever posy the garden gifts me, to a bunch that leaves me feeling thoughtful, and not GOOD thoughts.
Thank you Diana. I know exactly what you mean. Much better to not be left with a guilty conscience and be able to enjoy the flowers.
Absolutely! Love the woven heart. If my OH ever gets me another bunch of carnations it’ll be too soon. I can’t be doing with them, not when you see all the other glorious seasonal flowers that you can buy. Mind you, I suppose I ought not to sound so ungrateful….:)
:0 Yes, carnations are a bit ubiquitous. It’s a pity really because dianthus can be lovely flowers, with delicious scent. Mass produced carnations have given them a bad name really. I think it is often difficult for partners, they often just don’t know what to get.
Crazy, isn’t it, flying scentless flowers across the world. I loathe Valentine’s Day anyway, it seems to me to be a commercially driven celebration of extreme tackiness, by and large, how different it would be if instead of foreign flowers and fluffy pink toysmade in sweat shops hand made posies or British flowers were exchanged. I might feel less cynical then. Love your heart by the way. Classy.
I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day either. It is all about commercialism and actually very little about love. And I always think of the people who feel left out of such ‘celebrations’ too. Valentine’s Day when I was at school was this dreadful competition of who was the most popular with the opposite sex. Sad really that we were sucked into such a pointless waste of time at such a young age.
Well said for wherever you live really. Loved the heart wreath you made. Blessings, Natalie 🙂
Thank you, Natalie. 🙂
Reblogged this on Old School Garden.
My default feeling on this topic is the same yours, red roses I find boring and the environmental concerns are major. But I have just read an article today in the Telegraph about rose growers in Kenya and how some have cleaned up their act tremendously, too many haven’t, but it is possible to buy roses that don’t damage the environment too much. And my point – in this rather rambling comment – is that this industry provides jobs for so many people in areas where there otherwise are none. I find it’s not quite so easy to decide what’s right and what’s not. I tend to not buy any of this kind of produce whether flowers or vegetables, but can also see that is has some advantages to some people.
Hi Helle, I do understand your point. I have come across examples of places that are trying hard to have better growing and working practices. There are fair trade flowers available at my local supermarket and schools and health clinics have been built. It is difficult. I think these are perhaps the minority rather than common practice and the carbon footprint created by imported flowers still worries me. I think I would have less of a problem with it if it was food that was being produced. We all need to eat, we don’t NEED flowers. Very little is easy when it comes to decisions regarding the planet – so many interests. From a purely aesthetic point of view imported flowers just don’t look good to me, so I would much rather grow my own or by local. 🙂
Agree, I really do. And now I shall go and have a slice of the pineapple I bought the other day, no clue where it comes from, I only know it’s fairtrade ;-))
I love the heart bouquet and I might just try it here and surprise the darling man.
Thanks Sue. After all that wind yesterday there’ll be plenty of birch branches just waiting to be made into a heart.
I absolutely agree with you. Importing flowers is madness, especially when we have such fantastic ones of our own.My daughter wanted cottage garden flowers at her wedding and we ended up growing them ourselves !
I know what you mean about the imported roses, they are somehow absolutely soulless.
I love that you grew the flowers for your daughter’s wedding. It must have looked so beautiful. 🙂
Fabulous heart. You have inspired me to seek out a table decoration from the garden. I asked my husband to not buy me flowers on Valentine’s Day quite a few years ago now, I prefer him to cook a nice dinner instead.
Thanks Sarah. I think sometimes partners think they have to do the typical things like buy the roses and the chocolates because that’s what the media is telling them to do. I think we do have to give them some guidance as to our expectations. A lovely meal sounds like the perfect gift. 🙂
Couldn’t agree more! We should be proud of our home grown flowers and enjoy what’s in season. I would far rather have a bunch of “Christmas roses” for Valentine’s Day than the ubiquitous red rose.
Hi Helen, Thank you. Yes, Christmas roses would make a much nicer gift. 🙂
Love your Valentine heart boutique!