ForumGarden

The roses that you will buy, or receive this Valentines Day, are being cut, as I type... packed in ice, and stored in coolers to be shipped to retailers, all over the world. With Valentines Day approaching, I thought it would be nice to devote a little attention to THE ROSE.

Here in the US Valentines Day is a huge holiday for florists, and any business that sells flowers. We purchase the bulk of our roses from South America (Columbia) Florida, and a small percentage from France. Prices skyrocket on these lovely blooms, two weeks before the holiday. Because growers have to meet the huge demand for delivery, the roses are greenhouse grown, cut weeks in advance, and stored at very cold temperatures to delay developement. The roses you receive are really about 2 weeks old, when you place them in water.

Long Stem Roses, Tea Roses, Sweet Heart Roses, and Spray Roses.... In every color of the rainbow... Purchased and given to represent love.

My first memory of roses, came from the fairy tale Beauty and The Beast.

This memory marks the day that I fell in love with them myself. The castle that held Beauty prisoner, was surrounded by a huge black, wrought iron fence. The fence was covered with climbing roses... peppered with thorns, crowned by brilliant and velvety tufts of red. How fitting is it that something so beautiful, should be protected by fiery thorns? Its nature at its best, showing us that to posess something beautiful, one must risk the possibility of being hurt. But to own that gracefullness, that scent, that color, for even a few days, the pluck of the thorns becomes trivial.

Growing roses is an art, and requires daily diligence as the rose is prone to fungus,infestation by pests, and a host of diseases. This fact, along with the high cost of heating, and shipping, accounts for the high price, at Valentines Day. If you cant purchase a dozen... purchase one. The smile on the face of the recipient, will warm you for days. Receiving roses, marks ocassions in my life that I have never forgotten. Along with Valentines day, Ive received them for ballet recitals, communion, conformation, birthdays, the birth of my children, and wedding days. The roses made the ocassion more special, and very very sweet.

Funny how certain things take you back to your childhood and one of those things for me is the smell of a rose.The smell is still in my head.Our garden was full of them but alas the pure joy of ever smelling them again I will never experience.I have lost my sense of smell.Ok I love perfume and the best I still wear even though I guess its more for the people that I am with at the time........but the smell of the rose.......that is something else. I guess that special smell will just have to remain locked in my mind forever sending me those feelings of all those years ago.

I still have the first Rose I was given for valentines day by a lad called Simon when I was 16, I pressed it in a book and forgot about it:wah::wah::wah:

Its a smell, you never forget Carolly.

And Chezzie, isnt it incredible, that if you looked, the dried petals would be there... holding a sweet memory. Beautiful.

They are being cut NOW? Seriously? About 2 1/2 weeks before the holiday?

I had no idea they lasted THAT long...

A lovely thread about roses.....

A couple of years ago for Valentines Day I gave my wife two pieces of blue paper that said "I love You" and "Happy Valentines Day" The words were written out with glued on macaroni.

Yes Weeder except for being dried out and no smell its still intact, nice memories, he was a sweet boy:-4

valerie;766245 wrote: They are being cut NOW? Seriously? About 2 1/2 weeks before the holiday?

I had no idea they lasted THAT long...


The roses arent lasting.. They are actually dead. Once any flower has been cut, it is actually dead. The roses are preserved. And yes they are being cut now. Or to be more accurate definately by the end of this week.

Day 1 Roses are cut, wrapped in bundles, packed in ice. Put in cooler.

January 31st

February 2nd. Roses are shipped by growers to Brokers.

February 3 Roses are shipped from brokers to wholesalers

February 4th through 10th Wholesalers send them to florists

The florists put them in their cooler, until they get them in water to fill orders on the 14th,

With every step that I have described.. The roses will spend a day, either on planes... or at the airport waiting for pick up. At each stop they are put in a cooler, in boxes for at least a day. Yes.... it works out to about 14 days.

Nowdays florists can arrange overnight shipping directly from the growers, for a higher freight charge. However, the boxes have still been stacked in coolers at the growers.... will still spend time at the airport.. and will still be in boxes, in the cooler at the flower shop,

Oh I realized they were dead, I just meant "lasting" as far as not

drooping or opening up or anything.



That's very interesting to hear, thanks for posting that!



Learn something new every day!

We have a rose bush in front of our home that blooms peach -colored flowers. I don't pick them........I just enjoy seeing them bloom.



"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.":)

My favorite roses are shrub or climbing roses also. I prefer to enjoy them growing this way, then cut long stems in a vase, Part of their beauty for me, is their wildness,

Weeder, that was a lovely op...I love Beauty and the Beast....one of my all time faves! And I love roses also....

I have a beautiful red rose bush on the side of my home, I don't pick them either, just let them bloom and look so pretty, and then prune back the bush for the next year, I've had it for about 10 years now....wow, I never thought about how long I've had it....probably longer than that if I really thought about it....



I had a dream the other night that I received a big box of long (I mean REALLY long) stem roses....and oddly enough, they were from my ex-husband telling me that he was thankful that we were friends....

1. My ex would never do that...he hardly gave me any flowers in the 15 years we were together....not to mention the few times I got roses.

2. We aren't friends...

3. The weird part, is that the current b/f would do something like that in a minute...

I found it interesting that a friend of mine (male co-worker even) told me last year how he watched a show on what the color of roses symbolize....I found that interesting....and I conveyed that to my boyfriend....and he just smiled and said..."Oh, I thought they were pretty"- which is what I thought to begin with!! :wah:

http://www.rosegathering.com/meaning.html

Flower Power really is true.... My former husband took me to hell and back at least 30 times. And yet, when I allow the tiniest crack in my shell of armour..

I remember waking up to glasses filled with Lilac that he would leave on the night stand. This act of kindness was his one redeeming quality. Crazy Huh?

I have a Mr. Lincoln rose bush in the front of my house, my pride and joy. My husband planted it for me, when we got the house. I now bring him in the vase full of roses when they bloom, and he smiles.

chonsigirl;766421 wrote: I have a Mr. Lincoln rose bush in the front of my house, my pride and joy. My husband planted it for me, when we got the house. I now bring him in the vase full of roses when they bloom, and he smiles.


:-4:-4

Mr. Lincoln roses smell so wonderful just love them. My younger sister has an extensive rose garden that she has prize roses in they are the most beautiful flower in my eyes. :yh_flower:yh_flower:yh_flower

[QUOTE]I have a Mr. Lincoln rose bush in the front of my house, my pride and joy. My husband planted it for me, when we got the house. I now bring him in the vase full of roses when they bloom, and he smiles. [/QUOTE]