rose topiaryYes, I'm talking about Valentine's Day. To most of you, it seems like Valentine's Day is almost a month away-- plenty of time to think about it. But in the flower world, Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and some varieties of flowers are selling out fast. So I want to pass on some basic information and maybe clear up a few misconceptions.

There aren't quite enough growing days between Christmas and Valentine's Day, so growers must choose how much of their crops to grow for Christmas (with the second bloom cut coming mid to late March) and how much to grow for Valentine's Day (meaning the bench space growing Valentine's Day crop is unavailable for Christmas). Growers set the price for roses and other botanicals, based on what it costs to grow them. When the price of fuel goes up, the greenhouses that light or heat with fuel need to charge more to cover fuel costs. When growers commit an entire greenhouse to Valentine's Day product, they must raise prices to cover the lost revenue for that greenhouse during the Christmas season.

Like any other perishable, weather, supply and demand drive the price-- when everyone wants the same product at the same time, it becomes scarce. The scarcer the product, the higher the price goes. Add to this the fact that flowers are perishable -- the growers cannot grow all summer and stockpile for the winter holidays; plus, flowers are subject to laws of nature. Like when there's a freeze in Florida, the price of oranges and other citrus goes up- sometimes way up. When the product becomes readily available again, the price comes down.

If you insist on one specific variety- Freedom roses, for instance, instead of "red", expect to pay the highest price point. There are red roses available right now-- how many are Freedom, I don't know. There are, however, other varieties that are equally as lovely, and maybe more readily available in your area at this time of year.

It is better to leave your order somewhat open ended. Ask for "red" roses, or "pink" gerbera. If you have insisted on a certain variety, your florist will do what they can to give you that variety. This means, if you've asked for "Freedom" roses and the florist gets some that are 40cm, that's what you'll get. If you had asked for "red" roses, you might have gotten 60cm Charlottes or another red.

In a normal delivery day, we average 30 deliveries. During the week prior to Valentine's day, we average 100 deliveries, and Valentine's day we pump out 400+ The drivers arrive at 6AM, get loaded up, and keep coming back- we deliver until we're done. This is possible, because we take deliveries on a route-- we're not like the pizza guys who cook a pizza, deliver it-- cook a pizza, deliver it. We will give people windows of time for their delivery choice-- AM, or 1-3PM or 3:30-6PM. AM to us means, from 7 up to and including 11:59. To the people who come in and say, "it has to be delivered between 10 and 10:30" we say, "well then, you might have to do it yourself. We can manage these windows here," and show them the options. Drivers normally take 20-30 per run, depending on the size of their vehicle, so it's many drivers and many trips to get the day's deliveries out. If your Valentines day plan includes a very small window of time for flower delivery, consider asking a buddy to do the delivering for you.

Hope this information has been illuminating; and widened your perspective on the holiday of love-- which really should last all year, and be celebrated numerous times instead of just one day.

Keep blooming, everybody.