February means one thing for florists.. Valentine’s Day! The 14th February is always a whirlwind of beautiful flowers, bouquets being delivered throughout Bristol and (mainly) men ordering flowers last minute for their loved ones, sorry guys but you know it’s true! I used to love working in florists on Valentine’s Day, hearing all the stories about why people were buying flowers. From the young guy nervously coming in to buy this first ever bunch of flowers, to the gentleman who had bought his wife a dozen red roses every year for 50 years… so many stories that encapsulate all levels of love and romance!
Our job as florists has always meant offering advice on the flowers that would be most appropriate for the occasion and recipient too! My brothers friend recently reminded me of the time about 12 years ago when he came into buy flowers for his new girlfriend, he said I advised him he should go for mixed spring tulips… the perfect seasonal spring flower in season and something different to roses! And she loved them… it was so funny hearing this story again and how it had stuck with him! Running my business from a studio allows me to send flowers online, so I do miss that customer contact however always get a smile when you are writing out a lovely card message… flowers on Valentine’s Day are such a romantic gesture!
With that in mind I thought I would give a little guide to buying flowers this Valentines Day. We are bombarded with adverts selling us 12 red roses for £5.00 or 100 roses for £10.00 (these are actually spray roses so you get about 6 mini heads on each stem… so it is not quite the 100 red roses you would expect!) but that is the power of advertising and you cannot blame the big supermarkets and relay services as they have the big budget to market. I would love to give you my personal insight to Valentines Day from a local florist, who absolutely loves seasonal blooms and the excitement and romance of Valentines Day! A guide to the bouquets that I will be selling this year and also clearing up the myths about red roses.
When you think about Valentines Day it is hard not to think about red roses, they are synonymous with the date and are the ultimate romantic gesture to lots of people! I use beautiful, large headed, long stemmed roses, which are the best quality you can get from the market and have such a long vase life. These do go up in price around Valentines Day, not because us florists are hiking up the price, but because of sale and demand. For lots of the flower growers they make a high proportion of their sales during Valentines and Mothers Day, and lots of the rest of the years work will go into the planning of these two major events. So it makes sense that their price will increase, this price increase then gets passed onto our flower market and then onto us florists.
The size and quality of roses you will buy in a quality florist, will have no comparison to the bargain rose deals you see advertised on tv and magazines, which will be short stemmed and small headed. I am not saying that you have to spend £75.00 on a dozen red roses from a florist, you can equally pick up a couple bunches of spring flowers for much less if you prefer. I am definitely not saying it is about how much money you spend, I just want to make people aware of the huge difference in quality of the roses you see advertised than those sold by experienced florists. Florists will also carefully hand tie your bouquet with foliage, wrap it perfectly and deliver it successfully on the day.
Some florists have stopped selling red roses all together on Valentines Day and only offer alternatives, I do still love the idea of red roses and wrapped in a bouquet with beautiful spring foliage they can look stunning. I do this because the customer has made a decision to buy them because they know that their partner will love them, not just because they feel pressured that red roses are the only option on Valentines Day! On the whole though I do tend to sell more spring, seasonal bouquets filled with pretty mixed blooms. You can choose a bouquet in their favourite colours, or include their favourite flower if you know it that is major brownie points! If not then I always go with spring ranunculus, anemone and tulips with gorgeous foliage… you are guaranteed she will love them!
If you are unsure then ask your florist to create a beautiful bespoke, spring bouquet, and they will make you something wonderful that is in season and unique just for your Valentine! At this time of year we are spoilt for spring blooms so Valentine’s Day can be all sorts of colours not just red! If they are a bright spring person then go for yellow narcissi and bright tulips, or if they are more prefer softer colours then go for the pretty pale pink hyacinths and ranunculus!
Here are my beautiful spring bouquets that you can order online for delivery in Bristol and Bath this Valentine’s Day! Filled with all the spring finest blooms such as ranunculus, tulips, anemones, lilac and of course a few roses too! Simply order online here. I will be taking orders up until Feb 13th so us florists are always super grateful if you can pre order a couple days before! I will be delivering beautiful spring bouquets for £35,£45,£55,£65 or a dozen red roses for £75.00 in Bristol and Bath.