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Valentine’s or Galentine's - make sure you get your flowers right!
Whether it's Valentine’s or Galentine's, it's all about getting the flowers right and this can create a flurry of dilemmas and indecision if you don’t often buy flowers and are unsure where to go and what to choose. Should you use your local florist or supermarket, try an online Valentine’s Day delivery service or perhaps even resort to the much mocked garage which is surely better than nothing. There is such a plethora of choice that it is often impossible to know where to start.
The traditional Valentine’s Day bouquet is a dozen red roses – red for love and passion, and twelve to demonstrate that the giver will think of his or her beloved every month of the year to come. But symbolism aside, are red roses really the flowers your intended Valentine prefers?
Choosing your Valentine's or Galentine's Day flowers
Think of the person for whom you are buying, whether they prefer a more classical flower for their Valentine’s Day bouquet such as the classic red roses or something less traditional. Do you know their favourite colour or flower? Scent, colour and natural beauty and are all hugely important at Valentine’s and increasingly so is the provenance and sustainability of the flowers. How and where the flowers are grown and the impact that their journey, from farm to vase, has on the environment are all relevant factors when choosing. At this time of the year most roses delivered for Valentine’s Day will be coming from abroad but did you know that it’s more environmentally friendly to bring flowers in which have been grown on the equator naturally rather than forced under light and glass in Europe?
For many people, scent is important and very few Valentine’s Day flowers actually have any scent, especially those red roses. The red roses we see at Valentine’s are often forced into flower in hothouses and left for several weeks in cold stores, resulting in blooms which either blow very quickly or flop without opening at all and scent is definitely lacking.
We have done a lot of research in the past on which flowers to choose for Valentine’s Day and how to pick the right bouquet, and interestingly things haven’t changed much. Certain bouquets still seem to be stealing the show and not necessarily the ones you might imagine so before you play safe and go for the traditional dozen red roses have a look below at what has proved most popular with our customers.
Following our hunch that the traditional twelve red roses are not everyone’s first choice, we tasked our florists with creating a range of exceptional Valentine’s bouquets that go far beyond the traditional. We needed to check our hunch was right, of course, so we decided to ask our customers what kind of flowers they would like to be given this Valentine’s Day.
Several commented along the lines of ‘it’s the thought that counts’ and ‘any bouquet is special as long as it’s given with love’ but others had definite preferences.
Our Love Is Valentine’s Bouquet is a wonderfully scented medley of pinks with the emphasis on darker and hotter shades to give a more dramatic effect. Hot pinks convey gratitude and appreciation, as well as love and passion - what more could one want?
Our Garden Romance Valentine’s Bouquet eschews roses altogether in an arrangement that encapsulates the beauty and fragrance of an English spring, combining narcissi, hyacinths, tulips and anemones with herbs and foliage. It’s message is one of optimism, looking ahead beyond the dark days of winter to the spring to come and a year ahead filled with love. It is the obvious choice for a loved one who is independent in spirit and prefers the wild and natural to the traditional and formal. And it seems from our research that many people out there identify with this view of themselves.
Quite rightly, the traditional dozen red roses will always have their place on Valentine’s Day and our classic True Romance Valentine’s Bouquet displays them in all their sensual, velvety glory. We should give thanks to King Charles II of Sweden when three-hundred years ago he brought back the idea of communicating through flowers from a trip to Persia. What a great idea! Red roses send a powerful message of love and passion and are associated with the Greek goddess Aphrodite who pricked her foot on a white rose whilst running to the rescue of her lover Adonis. The blood from her wound stained the rose red and thus red roses became a symbol of love, courage and sacrifice which are essential elements of all meaningful relationships.
And finally .....
However you might choose to send them, fresh flowers are such a joyful and uplifting thing to receive. Whether they are from your dearly beloved or a secret admirer, there is generosity and thought behind the gesture and if their arrival at Valentine’s should cause your heart to be all of a flutter, then that’s surely a good thing.
How to make your Valentine's Day flowers last longer
Having received a beautiful bouquet, sent with all that thought and love, how do you make it last? The greatest enemy of flowers is dirty water, so make sure whatever vase you choose is immaculately clean. It should also be big enough to let the flowers fall into a natural display once their tie has been cut. On receiving your Valentine’s flowers, cut all the stems on an angle and then give them a good drink in a deep bucket to help them rehydrate after their journey before arranging them in your chosen vase or jug. Ideally, flowers like to be positioned somewhere which is not in full sun, near a radiator or close to a bowl of fruit containing bananas (which give off ethylene, the foe of cut flowers).
If the worst happens and your flowers flop their heads don’t panic! Take them out of the vase, re-cut the stems at an angle and wrap the heads tightly in a newspaper with an elastic band or tie to support them. Then place them in a couple of inches of near boiling water for a good half hour to an hour which should encourage the flow of water to their heads. Once finished, re-cut them, remove their support collar and return them to their vase in clean water. Hopefully they will now be feeling rejuvenated.
Our Valentine’s Day bouquets are available to order now for Valentine’s Day delivery from 10th to 15th February. You can browse the full collection of nine sumptuous bouquets specially created to celebrate the wonders of love, romance and natural beauty here.
