Fellow blogger Sara Venn talks about what flowers mean to us in her recent blog on the The Physic Blogger and brings the fore the British Flower Industry.
A week tomorrow, it is the Feast Of Saint Valentine. For some it is brilliant, a day of unbridled slush where there are hearts, roses and bottles of prosecco all over the shop. For others, it will no doubt be just another Tuesday (Guess which camp I fall into….)
There will be lots of roses. In all sorts of different colours, scents and pretty packaging. It is hard to imagine Valentine’s Day without roses. Though if we are savvy enough; if we try to create social change and move from minority towards majority views, we might be able to change the traditional flower for something else.
How about a dandelion?
The things get everywhere; are fairly robust, hard to get rid of and turn up when you least expect.
Don’t suppose that reminds you of love and romance?
Well, it could, if we changed our thinking patterns.
I joke, and say don’t buy me roses.
Buy me diamonds instead. (Ethical ones, please, thank you.)
And why?
Lemme show you.
Those weren’t flown in from the African Continent. Those were plugged into the clay of my allotment over the course of years and have become an established part of my allotment. One half the allotment, has an avenue of roses that are interspersed with fruit trees. In high summer-it does sometimes turn up, yes-that half smells amazing! Then, it comes to dead heading and having cut flowers at home. I have tried-and failed-to tot up how much each bouquet-and it’s usually one every nine days-might cost. It is difficult to put a price on those bouquets, least of all because of the intrinsic value. I love my roses, they make me smile, and remind me that whilst some days can be really quite shoddy, something thorny, can produce something wonderful.
As you can see, I do like my roses. They do mean a lot to me, especially as they are home grow with love and care.
Don’t buy me roses, diamonds are in short supply.
Give me seeds and you might just bowl a maiden over.
horticultural 'obbit 
An allotment isn’t an allotment unless it has roses, preferably beautifully fragrant.
My other half brought be a bouquet of flower seeds last year, much more flowers from them and didnt come with a huge carbon footprint like most of the ones in the UK. I am all for british grown cut flowers but why bother when you can grow your own, they seem all the more beautiful to me