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The best British cut flowers to buy for Valentine's day

Willow Crossley, who has an online course with Create Academy
Willow Crossley, who has an online course with Create Academy

The typical cut flower to buy a beloved on Valentine’s Day is, of course, the rose. But at this time of year, it’s hardly the true plant lover’s (or environmentalist’s) choice. Roses aren’t in season in February in the UK – indeed, The Telegraph’s gardening expert Tom Brown advises that now is the best time to prune climbing and rambling roses, while they are dormant. According to Jessica Blume, a flower grower and part of SSAW Collective, a community of growers and chefs committed to seasonal produce, “Roses are currently not in season in much of the world, unfortunately.”

Last year around eight million or 570 tonnes of roses were imported into the UK for Valentine’s Day. “To meet demand, they have to be grown in artificially regulated conditions, even in countries with equatorial climates,” says Blume.

“Environmental inputs are high (water, energy and pesticide usage), and so too are the ethical impacts. Due to this intense period of high demand for just a single date, roses have to be held back or brought on by force, which means that overtime for workers is often compulsory, on top of often already long hours with poor pay and working conditions.”

There are a number of great British alternatives to traditional roses - Beth Cutting
There are a number of great British alternatives to traditional roses - Beth Cutting

All of which, as she points out, rather “kills the romance” of a bunch of blooms thrust towards your beloved.

But there are, of course, marvellous British-grown alternatives from growers like Blume across the UK, something SSAW Collective has launched a campaign to highlight. A bouquet containing 15 stems of flowers grown and sold in the UK produces 95 per cent less carbon emissions than those grown overseas, according to SSAW Collective’s campaign research.

“Valentine’s Day is one of the single most influential events of the floristry calendar when consumer demand could make a huge difference,” says Blume, and British growers need all the consumer support they can get right now: “There is a huge network of British flower farmers who will only be able to survive the current economic downturn if we, as consumers, turn our attention to supporting these small businesses as opposed to the huge supermarkets that sell flowers (albeit even sometimes British) as loss-leaders.”

And Valentine’s Day – the biggest point of sales for cut flowers in the whole year – couldn’t fall at a worse time of year for seasonal growers. “If you force bulbs, the chance of getting them to flower at the right moment is hard,” says Camila Romain, co-founder of Wolves Lane Flower Company (wolveslaneflowercompany.com), a micro flower farm in north London, adding that lots of consumers still expect roses, rather than seasonally appropriate flowers.

But part of the joy of buying flowers seasonally is, like eating freshly harvested British asparagus in May, enjoying the fleeting burst of each new crop.

“Seasonal flowers provide us with an opportunity to celebrate the blooms that are at their very best, and serve to inspire a recollection of seasons past, and excitement for seasons to come,” says Norfolk-based florist Hannah Hunnam. “Each season brings with it an opportunity to articulate our feelings through the language of flowers. With February comes romance, and a chance to be more creative with the flowers that are available in the midst of winter.”

Hannah Hunnam
Hannah Hunnam

Best seasonal blooms to give

Thomas Broom-Hughes, director of horticulture at Petersham Nurseries, couldn’t agree more. “February may seem bleak in terms of flowers, but there is a bounty of scent and colour beginning to emerge in the garden,” he says. His favourites right now are camellias, in all their glorious varieties.

Freddie Garland isn't a fan of yellow tulips for Valentine's Day
Freddie Garland isn't a fan of yellow tulips for Valentine's Day

“There are pure whites, serene pinks and deep reds in bloom and full of buds on branches of glossy leaves. They have a long vase life and if your branches are in bud, they will bloom over the coming weeks if you keep the water fresh.” He also loves Anemone coronaria as “a great alternative to the red rose. These are becoming increasingly available from growers in Cornwall and beyond, and you may be lucky enough to get a red flower or two in a bunch.”

Sue Barnes, founder of the florist Lavender Green, shares his enthusiasm for anemones, which “are really striking and can hold their own against more obviously glamorous flowers that aren’t seasonally available”. She also has a thing for early tulips, which, as she points out, “were the most luxurious flower in the world in the 17th century”, rare varieties of which were, at one point, worth more than gold. Barnes sources hers from growers in Lincolnshire, as does subscription service Freddie’s Flowers.

“One of our favourite growers is the wonderful Sue Lamb, who grows many of our glorious tulips in Lincolnshire,” founder Freddie Garland says – adding that you should avoid giving yellow tulips as a mark of your love. “They’re a symbol of unrequited, spurned or hopeless love, so they’re probably not the best option for your Valentine.”

Vicky Baker from “flower club” UnCut Stems, which delivers in London and will launch nationwide in the summer, loves hellebores, which are coming into flower now. “They’re often called the winter rose, but with their tonal dusky green and burgundy colours and heavily draped star-shaped flower heads, they are arguably more beautiful than traditional roses and make a wonderful cut flower. Hellebores need to have developed their seeds to work well in the vase. Ours come from a nursery in Norfolk, grown under glass so they are available earlier in the year, but they require less human interference due to being close to their natural season.”

Then there’s narcissi, famously grown on the Isles of Scilly, where the warmer climate – aided by its location, ancient pittosporum hedges and the heat provided by the sea surrounding it – is famous for aiding the farming of narcissi all through winter. Barnes says that there are “many lovely varieties to be found. Narcissus ‘Erlicheer’ looks like tiny, creamy roses.” Freddie’s Flowers sources its daffodils from a farm in Cornwall.

Foliage is something to add to your bouquet – either from the florist or by foraging in the garden. “The prettiest by far for us is winter blossom,” says Blume. “Without their leaves the trees look like they have been dusted in icing sugar, tiny snowflake-like petals that may only last a couple of days at the most in severe conditions. They are a sign of hope that the end of winter is near.” For Baker, “a budded branch, like magnolia, that slowly opens up in the vase over a week or so, is really quite magical. Flowering viburnum and berried ivy are also favourites”.

Barnes loves mimosa – available to buy as a cut flower, garden plant. “Its bright yellow, almond-fragranced blossoms add instant sunshine to any room or tablescape,” she says.

For those in the south of the country, Blume says flowering quince is “such an uplifting blossom in its shocking pink, coral and red-hot tones; a perfect thing to spot for a Valentine”.

How to style your flowers

Shorter stems should sit around the edge of your vase, while taller, more structural flowers should stand up in the centre - Norfolk-based florist Hannah Hunnam
Shorter stems should sit around the edge of your vase, while taller, more structural flowers should stand up in the centre - Norfolk-based florist Hannah Hunnam

Garland says that to style your bunch like a pro, it’s all about positioning. “Shorter stems should sit around the edge of your vase, while taller, more structural flowers should stand up in the centre. Once you’ve arranged this base, you can add in foliage, such as eucalyptus and bupleurum, for a bit of bulk and wildness.”

Master florist Michal Kowalski, co-founder of Blooming Haus, says that using “special flowers in scarcity and allowing them to show off” sets apart a professional bouquet. “For example, a bendy, not-so-perfect anemone would strike me as the perfect centrepiece in a floral arrangement, and so I would put it higher than all the other flowers to let it shine.”

He adds that using different textures “adds character” and that greenery is a useful space-filler: “If your blooms start to wilt, you can replace them with evergreens from your garden.”

Potted plants

Some see a potted plant as even more romantic than a traditional bouquet - Beth Cutting
Some see a potted plant as even more romantic than a traditional bouquet - Beth Cutting

For the true plant lover, Broom-Hughes advises that a potted plant is “a more romantic gesture” than a bouquet. At this time of year, he favours a potted bulb, such as “hyacinths and narcissus, which are packed full of beautiful scent and can be planted into the garden after they have flowered indoors. ‘Paperwhite’ and ‘Bridal Crown’ are fantastic as indoor flowering narcissi and for the classic Valentine’s look, try Hyacinthus orientalis ‘Pink Pearl’.”

Lavender green is selling vintage walnut baskets filled with locally sourced spring bulbs, while Blume says “hellebores, especially the Harvington varieties, make a beautiful gift as a perennial potted plant”.

Barnes adds that a gift of a potted orange tree will win hearts. “It is prized for its glossy leaves and heady perfume, not forgetting the fruit. The blossom, when it opens in the next few weeks, fills the air with the most intoxicating scent and has been linked continuously to marriage.”

Grow your own

For those who want to focus on growing rather than buying cut flowers, several UK growers are focusing on courses to teach us how to create our own cutting garden, such as Wolves Lane Flower Company, which has a series of workshops on how to grow from seed (£90), Bedfordshire-based the Cut Flower Collective, which has an accelerated course over five sessions (£47) and Willow Crossley who has an online course with Create Academy (£127). “We can all feel like we need a pick-me-up in February but the best things really do come to those who wait,” says Marianne Mogendorff of Wolves Lane Flower Company.

Growing your own really is the best way of truly understanding British seasonal flowers, as well as keeping your own vases stocked up all year. “There is so much to look forward to, not only month by month, but week by week,” Blume says. “There is always something unfurling above our heads or beneath our feet.”