Will you “say it with flowers” this Valentine’s Day?
February 14th is the first big post-Christmas present purchasing occasion, marketers say. You might be feeling some pressure to buy a bouquet, a card or chocolates right now as retailers try to convince you the best way to say “I love you” is to buy their stuff.
The day of the week on which Valentine’s day falls makes a big difference to our spending, researchers say. Falling midweek as it did last year, shoppers in Ireland opted to show their love at home, according to retail consulting company Kantar. We spent an additional €4.3 million on chilled ready meals, €1.8 million on chilled desserts and €916,000 on sparkling wine around Valentine’s, according to Kantar. Spending on chocolate was up too.
Valentine’s Day falls on a Friday this year. This might mean increased restaurant bookings, an extra bottle of fizz or a bunch of flowers purchased on the way home.
Giving flowers is a lovely gesture, but the backstory of some bouquets is just plain ugly.
Spectacular as they may look, flowers grown in another country or continent in near-industrial conditions, using pesticides, herbicides and artificial fertilisers to force growth sort of stink.
Some have been grown in water and under lights instead of in soil and sunlight, they are refrigerated, mass distributed to supermarkets or van-delivered to your home.
Their carbon footprint, land, water and pesticide use and the unsustainable and unrecyclable materials used to display and package them mean some cut flowers are far from lovely, says Friends of the Earth.
If you really want to show some love with flowers, seek out some locally grown ones.
The Flower Farmers of Ireland is a collective of growers who support our own cut-flower and foliage growers. They believe that flowers and foliage should be grown sustainably, with respect for the environment. This has massive benefits for the environment by boosting biodiversity, supporting pollinators and reducing emissions.
It’s Ireland and it’s February, so be realistic. Your choice of blooms is naturally curtailed by, well, nature. Flower Farmers of Ireland members grow flowers and foliage suitable for Irish conditions, so you can be assured your bouquet will be considered and sustainably grown.
Their website, FlowerFarmersOfIreland.ie has a directory of growers from around the country. Take for example Bell Meadow, a small scale flower farm in rural Co Carlow, run by Maria Ryan.
From her website, you could choose a bouquet of flowers, grasses and seed heads grown in Ireland last summer which have been thoughtfully harvested and dried.
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Unlike a shop bought bouquet, these dried flowers will last for months, seeing you through until next spring, says Ryan. Then you can refill the vase with fresh flowers.
There’s Cork-based Anne Marie Scannell of @gardendelila too. She grows a myriad of artisan flowers from seed, “using sustainable growing practices, without any chemicals, in tune with the seasons here in lovely Cork,” says Scannell.
“The concept is simple; beautiful sustainable Cork-grown flowers for Cork people, no air miles included!”
There aren’t too many flowers in bloom in Ireland in February, so why not instead have some delivered in April or May when the season is kicking off? Wild & Green Flower Farm in Kildare, run by Linda Prendergast, offers flower subscriptions.
“Growing with the seasons and the Irish climate is important to me,” Prendergast says. “Flowers are grown according to their seasons here, and are arranged in a wild and natural style to give the feeling of a garden-gathered bunch of flowers.”
Instead of giving plastic-wrapped flowers, shipped in from God-knows-where this Valentines, say something different with your flowers and buy local.
