Valentine’s Day lovers are expected to get creative on Monday, moving away from the traditional rose and moving towards other varieties of flower.
The move comes off the back of supply chain challenges which have slowed imports.
“People aren’t afraid to branch out and mix up what they buy,” Southside Flower Market owner Nicki Christensen said ahead of their biggest day of the year.
“No matter what they purchase, they know that flowers make people happy.”
Mr Christensen is the premier distributor of flowers in the Logan area, and Southside Flower Market a new leader in in-house floristry.
He says this year, most imported roses will come from Kenya.
“We’ve got amazing local roses growers that we deal with year round but because demand for roses spikes 250% on Valentine’s Day worldwide there is no way that local Aussie flower farms can meet the demand,” he said.
“so as well as selling out of every Australian grown rose we top up with roses from as far away as Kenya.”
Normally, South American roses would be popular but they’ve become scarce and expensive due to a lack of flights.
The bottom line, he says, is either mix it up or order roses now.
Some shops have already pre-booked all the flowers they can order.
Ordering roses for Valentine’s Day is a process which begins in November the year before.
Reduced flights, even from Western Australia and Victoria, means there’s no belly space in aircraft for flowers.
“We’ve had to work out new road freight routes and connections this year and its been challenging at times to secure the numbers of flowers we know we will need for the Valentine’s Day Week period,” Mr Christensen said.
Buyer beware, he said. Chain stores receive their flowers two weeks ahead of Valentine’s Day.
“Our flowers are part of a chartered flight specifically booked for flowers so we can move quicker and get them into our customers hands quicker,” he said.
“You should definitely deal with a real local florist.”
Picture: Mia Gilroy, fourth generation in the flower industry.
