How To Choose The Perfect Valentine’s Day Roses

14 February is a date often filled with expectation or dread. Valentine’s or Galentine’s – the latter normally celebrated a day earlier and a rebuffal to the 14 February convention – celebrating instead women’s friendship and support for each other.

Both days are synonymous with flowers, but which flowers? It might be your only flower buying experience of the year and it can often be a daunting and bewildering process. Do you choose your local florist or supermarket, brave an online delivery service, or even resort to the scorned garage offering? After all, it’s the thought that counts. Rosebie Morton, founder of The Real Flower Company, is here to help with her February gardening guide.

The History Of Valentine’s Day Roses

The traditional Valentine’s Day bouquet is a dozen red roses, which symbolise love and passion, and a dozen so the giver will think of his or her beloved every month of the year. At this point, we need to thank King Charles II of Sweden (1577 – 1596), when he was inspired by a trip to Persia to communicate through flowers. Red roses go back to the Greek goddess Aphrodite who pricked her foot on a white rose while running to the rescue of her lover Adonis. The blood from her foot stained the rose red and hence became a symbol of love, courage and sacrifice, the essential elements of a strong relationship.

How To Choose The Right Flowers

However, is red such a popular choice with the recipient? Perhaps they might prefer a less traditional looking bunch, or perhaps yellow or pink may be their favourite colour. Scent, colour and natural beauty are huge factors to consider and obviously the provenance of the flowers and their environmental impact. How and where the flowers have been grown and their journey from farm to vase are all relevant when choosing. Most roses at this time of the year will have come from abroad but it may surprise you to know that growing roses on the equator at this time of the year has less of an evironmental impact than growing them in Europe which has to rely on artificial light and heat in the winer. Flowers may have been forced in a hot house and then stored for several weeks in a fridge, resulting in blooms which open quickly and then flop! So choose carefully.

Scent is very important to many people and sadly it’s rare to find flowers with scent, especially red roses other than some garden roses grown outdoors in the summer. So if you are not convinced by red, go for another colour or a mix of colours, or why not go seasonal and opt for a beautiful spring bouquet of narcissi, tulips and ranunculus, guaranteed to bring happiness and optimism, and banish the winter blues?

How To Make Your Roses Last

Having received a beautiful bouquet sent with so much thought and love how do you make it last as long as possible? The biggest killer of flowers is dirty water so make sure your vase or container is immaculately clean. It needs to be big enough to let the flowers fall into a natural display once their tie is removed. Cut the stems on an angle to allow maximum hydration and give them a good drink in a tall bucket before putting in their vase, away from a radiator and direct sunlight, and avoid fruit bowels containing bananas which produce ethylene that will shorten the flowers life. A sachet of flower food will extend their lives and changing their water every two or three days will help as well. Whatever type of flower chosen, there is nothing more uplifting than a fresh  bunch or bouquet of flowers to brighten one’s day.