Why are flowers SO expensive?!?!

People are often shocked at how expensive flowers are but I'm always happy when they want to know why. Flowers can be expensive for a number of reasons. The worst one being: jet fuel. Those dozen red roses for sale at the grocery store in February were grown in South America, harvested late last year, embalmed and gassed for preservation, and flown under refrigeration to your local store. Its no wonder they have no perfume left, and even if they did, I don't recommend sticking your nose in them. When you buy those roses then, what you are really paying for is the process and energy it took to get them to you (hello carbon footprint!). Don't get me wrong, sometimes you just NEED some roses, and there they are, conveniently waiting for you; I will never judge floral therapy.

Another reason flowers are so expensive is because they are difficult to transport. Roses are actually pretty hardy in comparison to a lot of other flowers, which is why grocery stores always seem to have them in stock. As the spring nears (painfully slowly, if you ask me), a lot of brides have been pinging me saying they want wedding flowers that include ranunculus, anemone, sweet peas, and poppies...all amazing choices for wedding design, all extraordinarily delicate flowers and some with painfully short vase lives (I'm looking at you poppies)! The coordination and care that it takes to deliver such delicate flowers intact and popping for your event is incredible.

(How could I NOT use this picture?!?!) Okay, here's a more classic poppy pic!

Let's say, just for a moment then, that you get your flowers from a local flower grower (hint hint.. that's me) and you order a seasonal bouquet. This means that the largest number of flowers possible in your gorgeous Petals bouquet were grown, not flown (yay no jet fuel) and were harvested fresh the day of delivery (yay no refrigeration)! Your carbon footprint juts went WAY down, congratulations! But wait...the flowers are still expensive! What gives?!?! Well, your local flower farmer (me again) had to order those seeds, nature them, plant them, tend and water them, defend them from pests with only bare hands and wits (hello, organic grower here!), and keep them alive in every kind of weather! This takes a lot of energy, time, resources (hello water!), and knowledge. And as far as financial return on investment goest, flowers are, unfortunately, not the cash crop Colorado is most known for.

But let's be real, I don't grow and design with organic flowers for the financial return, its for the pure joy the process of working with flowers brings me and my clients and the knowledge that together we are leaving the world a more beautiful place than we found it. So, in a nut shell, ( with a healthy dose of storm troopers and some Mary Jane for good measure), this is why flowers are so expensive. You can choose, however, what you pay for...jet fuel or gorgeous blooms.

And yes, the snow is starting to get to me!