Valentine's Day is just around the corner and we are working diligently to have beautiful arrangements delivered and delightful bouquets at our shop for you to select when stopping by! The most popular flower by far is the rose. Considered the favorite flower of Venus, goddess of Love, they are definitely a hot commodity right now! Across the globe, people celebrating Valentine's day are in the market for beautiful roses and are paying a higher dollar amount to get them, which begs the question "Why are roses so expensive this time of year?" It's a great question and we have the answer!
Click the video to learn more about what happens behind the scenes of product pricing and how it affects our business and consumers.
The most important reason is the growing period for a rose. It is sixty days from a rose bush. In order for the grower to have sufficient quantity to meet the high demand on Valentine's Day, during the month of December, they cut back production of their current crop of roses by cutting them early. Which means that the growers must throw away a potential good crop to have more room available for the roses on Valentines day. That is quite a gamble, especially considering the sporadic nature of inclement weather.
Growers only have a limited amount of space and the fact that they are dealing with a perishable product, makes it impossible to stockpile. Winter and shortened daylight hours also plays a factor in the added expense of heating.
The grower sets the price for the roses- which is higher due to the dumping of the crops in December- and the additional cost gets passed through each market level. From the grower, the wholesaler, the florist and finally to the customer.
Another factor is transportation. Most roses are imported in from Ecuador, Columbia, across the country in California. As the demand for roses rise, so does the space for cargo. More space needed leads to more vehicles on the road and in the air to transport the popular rose. It's remarkable, from cutting back crops, adding more vehicles, spending more money on gas, and that's not all! Valentine's Day isn't the first day to hit high demand for roses in the new year.
The Rose Bowl in Pasedena, California uses thousands of roses. The Tournament of Roses parade, well, it's hard to imagine how many roses are used for this event! The average float in the Rose Parade uses approximately 160,000 flowers...that's a lot of flowers!
Now you know the story but what does this mean for you? Should you forgo buying roses or flowers this year altogether? Here are Gillespie's we have plenty roses AND alternatives to roses if the cost is a bit too steep this year. Some of our other favorite flowers are stargazer lilies, gerbera daisies, carnations, alstroemeria lilies, hydrangea; the list is endless! Our design staff has made fabulous designs this year for Valentine's day and with or without roses, our bouquets are sure to thrill your loved one!
Click below to see our specials for Valentine's Day this year!
Topics: Holidays, Seasonal, Valentine's Day flowers, Roses in Indianapolis
