What Women Really Want for Valentine's Day
What Women Really Want for Valentine’s Day
The traditional Valentine’s Day gift 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 women prefer?
At The Real Flower Company we’ve long had our doubts, so we tasked our florists with creating a range of stunning Valentine’s bouquets – most of them filled with our signature scented roses – that go far beyond the traditional. We needed to check our hunch was right, of course, so we decided to ask our followers what kind of flowers they would like to be given this Valentine’s Day.
Many of our respondents said things like ‘all your bouquets are gorgeous in their own individual ways’ or that ‘any bouquet is special as long as it’s given with love and affection’. But others had definite preferences – and there was certainly a clear winner. Ready to find out more? This is what we discovered…
And the winner is...
Our Romantic Juliet Bouquet was top pick – chosen more than 2.5 times more often than a simple bouquet of red roses. The all-pink arrangement – praised for its ‘feminine pastel colours’ – mixes Belle Romantica, Vitality, Pavlova, Romantic Antike and David Austin Juliet roses with lavender and mint to create a bouquet that is not only beautiful but also wonderfully fragrant. Romeo and Juliet, of course, were the lovers who defied friends and family to be together, and decided they could not bear to live apart. And pink – here in a palette that ranges from pale through dusky to vibrant and hot – evokes the wonder and innocence of that first flush of romance and the way it can still be re-ignited year after year.
In joint second place...
Two very different arrangements almost tied for second place, demonstrating that our fans – and women in general, we assume – are far from wedded to the traditional idea that only red roses can symbolise love.
Our Love Is Valentine’s Bouquet, like Romantic Juliet, is a medley of pinks – but this time 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, so it’s hardly surprising that our fans chose this bouquet as a sign that their special qualities were being acknowledged.
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’s 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 a lot of women out there identify with this view of themselves.
And finally...
Of course, some of you still preferred the traditional dozen red roses – and who are we to deny the power of a Valentine’s Day gift that has been around for more than 300 years, when King Charles II of Sweden brought back the idea of communicating through flowers from a trip to Persia? Our True Romance Valentine’s Bouquet gives the traditionalists among you just what you want – a classic arrangement of red roses that not only signify love but delight the senses too.
Our Valentine’s Day bouquets are available for delivery from 9 to 16 February and can be ordered today. You can browse the full collection of nine sumptuous bouquets specially created to celebrate the wonders of love and romance here.
