St Valentine’s Day is on the 14th of February.

So who is this Valentine fellow? Is his life about red roses and love? Well, not really…

Valentinus was a bishop in third century Rome who was persecuted by Emperor Claudius.

Claudius needed young men to join his army and was under the impression that unmarried soldiers fought harder than married ones. So he banned marriage for young people (as you did in those days!)

Valentinus went underground and performed secret weddings until he was caught and sentenced to torture, stoning and deheading on the 14th of February.

Then nothing happened for about 900 years until the High Middle Ages where Saint Valentine became the symbol of courtly love. If you were in love you chose this day to send an anonymous message to express your feelings.

Nowadays its all a lot more of a commercial affair and the Red Rose has become the symbol of love and romance.

We don’t like selling red roses on Valentine’s Day and I will briefly explain why.

Red roses on Valentine’s Day are very expensive. Valentine’s Day is celebrated globally so demand for a single variety of flower is at an all time high. There is a limited amount of red rose growers in the world so lots of red roses get cut early and are packed away in coolers for much longer than is good for them to meet the huge global demand. We can’t therefore guarantee that these red roses are fresh and will have a long vase life and as you’ve spend that much money it’s only reasonable to expect the roses to last. Flowers are priced through an auction system so if demand is high and supply is limited the price will go up. Red roses around valentines day will be more than twice the price of other coloured roses and Rose & Mary feel that’s it’s not worth taking the risk in ordering red Roses because we have no idea how long ago they have been cut.

This is the case every year but this year especially as we struggle with flower shortages and transport problems due to new Brexit regulations and political problems in Ecuador (where lots of Roses come from) The best policy in our view is to sell all the other flowers that are better value for money and are of better quality, also we think that most women prefer pastel roses or a large seasonal mixed bouquet over a bunch or red roses anyway! There’s lots of seasonal flowers available in February such as Mimosa and scented Narcissi that are at their best this season so have a look at our seasonal bouquets in the link below.

To see our range of bouquets to deliver to your love please click here

We can deliver Valentines Day flowers to you on Tuesday 13.02 or Wednesday 14.02 in Richmond, Twickenham, Teddington, Hounslow, Chiswick, Barnes, Putney. Kingston and all West London postcodes.

Or you can click & collect from the studio in st Margarets

Happy Valentines day and thanks for reading!

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