A symbol of love, passion and romance, a red rose is the Valentine’s Day flower. 12 red roses presented to your loved one on the 14th February is your declaration of year-round love and romance, a tradition which has been around for centuries. Roses are sure to be everywhere this week however, not all are created equally!
 
We take great care to only use the best cut flowers in all of our hand-tied bouquets and Valentine’s Day is no exception. We only buy our flowers from reputable growers and importers and can chart the journey of our beautiful Explorer roses from field to vase.
 
Explorer is an Ecuadorian hybrid tea rose, the perfection of a cross breed between two types of roses. The ideal growing conditions of this rose at an altitude of 2500 metres in the Andes creates a slow growing cycle. Environmental and social responsibilities are at the heart of how these flowers are grown with the growers employing over 200 highly specialised workers, trained and supported in a safe and healthy work environment whilst guaranteeing their commitment to the wider community.
 
From the first shoot to harvest Explorer takes approximately 10 weeks, 4 weeks longer than those grown in Holland. Now fully grown, the rose starts its next journey to arrive in our flower shops.
 
Having been cut, the flowers are then inspected for quality. Moving into temperature-controlled rooms they are conditioned – a process which we do on a daily basis for all our flowers whereby the stems are cut at a sharp angle and placed into fresh water with food. They are then delivered to the airport to prepare for the flight to Europe.
 

Roses passing quality control

First flown to Holland they are unpacked, conditioned, sold at auction and shipped to the UK arriving at our shops just a few short days after being cut.

Preparing the roses for their flight

Once in our shops we condition the flowers and remove any large thorns. Leaves which will sit below the point at which they will be tied are also removed not only for aesthetic purposes but also to prolong their long 10-day vase life. We then make them into beautiful hand-tied bouquets complete with fragrant genista and foliage.

 

Explorer, the perfect Valentine’s Day bouquet

 
Not all Valentine’s Day roses are of such high quality. As a rule of thumb, the longer the stem and the larger the flower head the longer its vase life. This is why we have chosen Explorer as the perfect rose for our classic bouquet this year!
 
Our bouquets are available to order in store and on line or you can call us on: 01252 842308. Remember, this is one of our busiest days of the year and whilst we will have lots of flowers ready to make bouquets to order, it is always best to get your order in before the big day itself.
 
In case you need reminding, Valentine’s Day is on Thursday 14th February!