Valentine's Day already? This holiday seems to sneak up on people. Florists included.
Valentine's is the single biggest day for roses throughout the entire year. Millions of rose plants around the world are timed to bloom just in time for Valentine's day sales. And millions more will miss the mark and bloom too early or too late by just a few days, and end up getting thrown away.
So why does it have to be roses?
Well, personally I don't think it HAS to be roses. If my husband brought me home a beautiful bouquet without any roses I'd be ok with it. But the tradition of roses goes back a couple hundred years now, making it difficult to break.
It all goes back to the floriography. You may recall from one of my very first posts, found here, floriography, (aka: the language of flowers), is the practice of pairing specific symbolisms to specific flowers with the intention of conveying a message through those flowers' meanings.
Well, one of the most well-known flower-symbols is that of a red rose: love. So you can see how fitting the red rose is for a day completely dedicated to love and romance.
But as traditions continue to ease a bit since the 1800s, you'll notice other varieties of roses growing more popular. Pink roses have already found a niche as the red-rose-alternative. And the purples and yellows seem to steadily grow more popular in flower shops as flower givers branch out of the same-old same-old.