February 1, 2016

Who says a Valentine’s bouquet has to be a dozen roses from Colombia that have no fragrance and wilt in a few days? 

And  who wants to be party to the exploitation of flower workers in Colombia and Ecuador? These countries supply about 80% of the flowers for the U.S. flower market and even more around Valentine’s Day. Read about The Women Suffering for Your Valentine’s Day Flowers in a Guardian piece or The Secrets Behind Your Flowers in the Smithsonian Magazine.

So if you’re buying flowers this Valentine’s Day where will you purchase them? What criteria will guide your choices? Price, origin, convenience?

Slow Flowers “urges consumers to rethink how they celebrate and woo by supporting local farmers and florists with sustainable, American-grown bouquets.”  SlowFlowers.com is an online directory to help you find florists, studio designers, wedding and event planners, supermarket flower departments and flower farmers that are committed to using American grown flowers.

Check out Debra Prinzing’s take on the subject here.

If you live in San Diego you can purchase bouquets like the above two from La Belle Bloom in Little Italy.

Farmgirl Flowers  in San Francisco has a great story. They ship nationwide and all their flowers are American grown, many California Grown. Check out their Valentine’s Day offerings and order now.

And very local is Kendall Farms on 500 acres in Fallbrook (northern San Diego County). You can order flowers for Valentine’s Day or any day.

If you live in California, look for the California Grown logo on supermarket flowers.

And seasonally in your region check your farmers’ market for locally grown flowers.