I don't do Valentine's.

Red roses are boring.

It’s Valentine’s Day soon. Since starting Rook Botanics I’ve been very intentional about completely ignoring the holiday. I’ve paid my dues. My hands still show the scars of dethorning thousands of red roses over the years.

Buying in red roses, or any flowers for that matter, in the run up to Valentine’s is astronomical. Unless you’re really slinging out the bouquets I think the profit margins probably aren’t that impressive.

Also, roses in February feels off.

O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.

A Red, Red Rose - Robert Burns

June. Not February. Listen to The Bard.

I do use imported flowers, which doesn’t always sit right with me, but I still try to stick to seasonality. Down the street from me is the Scottish Poetry Rose Garden at Queens Park. Right now it’s stark. You’d have no idea that in a few months time there will be an abundance of fragrant roses.

The sheer mass of Valentine’s Day makes me uncomfortable. About 8 million roses are imported into the UK for February 14. It just feels wasteful.

I’m definitely being a hypocrite because you could argue all the weddings I do are wasteful too. All those flowers end up on the compost heap or in a bin. My friend is selling British grown tulips this year. That feels more fitting for February.

I remember working at the flower shop as a teenager and in my early 20s. People would get so pushy and rude. The door was locked the day before Valentine’s because we’d ran out of flowers and were getting ready to go home. It was dark outside and a man started banging on the door to try and buy flowers. He wouldn’t take no for an answer and kept saying he could see flowers on the flower stand.

They were reserved for orders that had already been placed. But this man just wouldn’t give up. I don’t remember what made him leave, but I know I never unlocked the door. We had probably been on our feet for 15 hours, so maybe one of us lost our temper with him.

I know the waste and the carbon footprint should be the thing that bothers me the most. But if I am being truly honest, the thing that offends me most is how cliché it is. After seven years of working in a flower shop I just wanted to scream at the customers asking for roses. Have an original thought!

A handwritten letter, a bunch of spring flowers, a thoughtful gift. If your partner loves flowers you can get a bouquet subscription or even a gift voucher to one of my workshops!

What do you think? Do you adore red roses for Valentine’s? I loved to hear it. Am I just a grump?

I’m going to spending my Valentine’s Day on a safari at the Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan, India. If I actually manage to see a tiger then there’s no hope of ever having a better Valentine’s Day.

With lot of love,

P.S. Have you listened to the latest episode of Flowers & Folklore? You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts and lots of other places.