Where do Valentine’s Day roses come from?
More than chocolates in a heart-shaped box, more than dinner reservations and bright red teddy bears, it’s roses that have really come to symbolize Valentine’s Day.
The most popular flower of the holiday — which is for some, the only day a year they resolve to purchase a flower bouquet — roses have maintained their status as a favorite among Americans. A whopping 83% of flowers purchased for Valentine’s in 2022 were roses, according to the Society of American Florists — and about two-thirds were specifically of the red variety.
While there was a time when the US grew the majority of these roses itself, largely in California, today the country is home to less than 20 commercial-level rose growers, thanks to federal investment in countries in South America, according to Certified American Grown CEO & Ambassador Camron King.
But regardless of where they’re grown, the demand for roses is high. Nearly one billion rose stems are now — and by the time you’re reading this, have likely already been — imported into the US just in time for Valentine’s Day, according to Christine Boldt, executive vice president of the Association of Floral Importers of America.
And as soon as these flowers are cut, the race against time begins. Here’s how your sweet, heady bouquet of roses made the incredible journey from South America to you and your loved ones at home.
Step 1: The race begins in South America
These days, most roses shipped to the US come from Colombia (a top exporter of all cut flowers to the US, not just roses) and Ecuador, according to the AFIA.
For farmers in the region, planning for the big day starts months before the actual holiday, when they decide how much of their rose crop to “pinch” — or cut back — so it blooms on time for February 14, said Boldt. Flowers are living things, she said, and pinching too early means the blooms might not last until the big day.
The amount matters, too. How much of your crop should you bank for the holiday? Do you want to pinch 60%? Or just 40%? If your crop is primarily red roses, pinching a majority for Valentine’s Day might be in your best interests, Boldt explained, since red roses may not pull as high of a price other times in the year.
Once bloomed, harvesting 60% of a crop is serious business. Farms often hire extra staff to handle the massive volume, she said — way more than they would have otherwise been dealing with on a normal week.
Once harvested, the roses are then organized into bouquets and bunches, and packed into boxes and coolers. Then, they’re on a plane and off to Miami.
Step 2: To Miami and distribution centers
At other times of the year, flowers are typically brought into the country by plane seven times a day, six days a week.
But just before Valentine’s Day, those numbers leap. In the two weeks leading up to February 14, there are more than 14 flights of flowers a day, seven days a week. Those one billion rose stems aren’t going to ship themselves, after all, and importers still need to bring in their usual shipments, Boldt said.
“There’s no way that we could ship, in one day, all of the flowers from all of the farms, to come in, to get processed, and then get on trucks and go to the supermarkets, all at the same time,” she said. “The stuff has to come in waves, day by day.”
Once the flowers land at Miami International Airport, usually just hours after being cut, their journey isn’t over. Customs and border inspectors check the flowers, Boldt said. Once complete, flower importers and distributors pick up the precious cargo and take it to warehouses and distribution centers — where many flowers are then trimmed and kept hydrated, she said, so supermarkets can easily set them out for sale.
USA Bouquet Company, a national flower manufacturer and distributor, moves its flowers right from the Miami airport to a processing center. The company distributes approximately 10 million rose stems just for Valentine’s Day, said Scott Hill, vice president of sales and marketing — about five times its usual volume.
Step 3: All the way to supermarkets and retail centers
At this point, your bouquet has traveled across at least two different continents, in multiple trucks and an airplane.
Everyone along the supply chain process — from farms, to customs inspectors, to processing centers — has to hire extra people for the holiday, Boldt said. Flowers are perishable; they can’t sit on a shelf for months like greeting cards or chocolate. Everything has to be kept refrigerated and moved as quickly as possible through the supply chain.
And of course, just because it’s Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean the world stops. There’s still births, funerals and other reasons to buy bouquets, too.
“Every single day, you’re moving your normal flowers, but then you have this extra volume that’s there for that one day holiday,” Boldt said. “It takes a lot of logistics, it takes a lot of planning, and it takes a lot of people and resources in order to get everything to where it needs to be.”
Once the roses have left the airport and have been taken to distribution and processing centers, trucks then pick the roses up for delivery to retail locations across the US.
Large supermarkets and retail centers might have their own trucks that come to the warehouses, get the flowers, and bring them back to their own supermarket distribution centers, Boldt said, before being sent to individual stores all over the country.
All of this requires refrigeration to ensure the flowers stay fresh. There’s refrigeration at the farms, the warehouses, the trucks. And sometimes, like with any supply chain, there can be problems: A February snowstorm might mean trucks can’t get to supermarket distribution centers, or to individual stores, delaying or potentially halting the roses’ journey.
Step 4: Finally, to you
There are concerns about the journey. Some environmental advocates have noted that buying imported flowers, which almost all roses are, is a drain on the environment, particularly because of the refrigeration requirements and the long distances traveled. Some argue that customers should seek out locally grown bundles from local florists or farmers markets instead, eliminating the long supply chain and resulting in a fresher bouquet overall. The blooms may not be the classic roses you’re used to, but the joy in receiving flowers is still there.
Either way, the end result is the same: The customer walks into a store and is greeted with bursting displays of pink, red and white bouquets.
You know the rest. You trim the stems, fill your favorite vase with water, and spend the next week ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the blooms — roses or not.
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