Valentine’s day
As I write, Valentine’s day is just a few weeks away; a day generally attached to a Christian Saint Valentine. Just a little investigation finds that the story I was told about a man who would perform secret marriages for Christians, has pretty little evidence to support it. There are actually between 12 and 14 St Valentines and the link to any one of them, and the celebration of love is not clear at all. Prior to Christianity there was a pagan celebration of fertility, Lupercalia, held around Mid-February, which involved naked dancing, sacrifice of animals and the whipping of maidens. It seems that such an occasion was so popular, the Christians adopted it as one of their own and performed a bit of a rebrand, with the help of Jeffrey Chaucer some time later.
Whilst thankful that we have moved on from those traditions, for a celebration now closely associated with the giving of flowers, in particular red roses, Valentine’s falls at a really unfortunate time for florists in the UK. Now a pot of snow drops would be both beautiful and seasonal, however it is the bouquet of red rose that still captures the heart and spending of the mass market. And with that come all kinds of consequences. The most perfect, long stemmed, perfectly formed blooms are grown in Kenya, Colombia and Ecuador. My grandmother actually had a small rose farm in Colombia, which supplied her own local floristry business. The climate there is perfect for them - a moderate temperature year round, daily mist and light rain.
There are many questions around the ethics of these large farming operations. Questions regarding the the use of pesticides, water usage, and the treatment of employees. I do not have the evidence to discuss these issues, and I’m sure there is a wide range of reality. Certainly there are examples where the flower business has been a really important and positive contributor to some communities. But what is clear, is the environmental impact of sourcing our short-lived tokens of love on the other side of the world.
The ‘best’ roses take a lot of work to arrive in the UK looking picture perfect. Each bloom is wrapped in protective plastic, and each bunch wrapped in more. They are dipped in preservatives, chilled, air freighted to Europe, un-wrapped then wrapped again. Then there are the roses that are dyed a rainbow of colours; a whole extra process, the appeal for which I really cannot comprehend.
There has been an increase in British-grown alternatives in recent years. Tulips, anemones and ranunculus are encouraged to bloom early in the glass houses of the South-west UK. Many of these growers are making considerable efforts to offset the environmental impact of their operations. And they need to. Lighting and heating a glass house through the winter is no environmentally sound initiative!
So, that brings me of course to the most sustainable solutions … a bouquet of what is growing around us right now; that beautiful terracotta pot of snowdrops; or an arrangement of British-grown and naturally dried flowers! No air miles, no pesticides or preservatives, no additional heating, no plastic, and no throwing them in the bin after a week - woo hoo! What could be better?!
