Dear Flower Friends,
I’d like to share some thoughts with you about Valentines Day flowers and cut flowers generally.
Last year around this time The Santa Fe New Mexican published an article from The Washington Post (by Julia Ledur and Fabiola Ferrero on February 13, 2025) on the journey the majority of flowers take from farms to stores. Flowers are picked in, say Columbia, undergo a hydration process, and then are transported to a warehouse where they’re assembled into bouquets. They are then treated (with chemicals) to extend their lifespan and are packed for shipment. Next, they hop on a plane to Miami and go through customs to be sure that no unwanted bugs have hitchhiked a ride. Finally, they travel by refrigerated trucks and fan out across the country. A journey of over 1500 miles. Whew! The Post article also claimed that the US is the largest importer of cut flowers in the world. We spend upwards of $27 billion on Valentines Day flowers alone!  (That’s not a typo.) It is wonderful that we love flowers so much! And we have to import roughly 80% of our flowers because there simply aren’t enough flowers grown in the US to meet the demand. (Petal Pushers notwithstanding.)In another, more recent article published in The Guardian (by Louise Donovan on January 11, 2026) readers were reminded that flowers, unlike food, have no legal limits on pesticide residue levels in the UK, EU, or US. The article went on to discuss some pesticides used on flowers can cause cancer. Not all imported flower growers use hazardous chemicals, of course, but many do, and there is very little regulation in the industry.Buying flowers at the grocery store will not likely cause you any harm. Still, I want to encourage other flower lovers to consider choosing locally grown flowers to avoid the huge carbon footprint of imported flowers and to ensure that their flowers are free of harmful chemicals. For example, Green Tractor Farm offers beautiful dried flower arrangements during the off season, while Mini Falls Farm is able to offer fresh flowers all year round. Green Tractor is at the Santa Fe Farmers Market, and Mini Falls offers flowers at La Montanita Co-op. The co-op sells other domestic flowers from trustworthy sources as well.Since Petal Pushers grows all our flowers in the field, we have flowers from March to October, never in time for Valentines Day. Nevertheless, we offer Gift Cards any time of the year. Consider purchasing one for your loved one, family member or even yourself this Valentines Day. You can do so here. We all have to make what decisions we can with our purchases. Thank you very much for considering your source for Valentines Day flowers! |
