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BANG FOR THE BITE
A dozen organic roses cost about $5 more than their conventional counterparts at a leading online organic florist – aren’t your lover and the planet worth it?
COCKTAIL FACT
180 million stems of roses were produced for Valentine’s Day in 2005.
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home › tip library › Green Romance - Organic Bouquets
Green is the New Red: Organic Roses - Love Week
The Bite
Love the blooms, but disheartened by the toxic chemicals used by conventional growers to keep those posies rosy? Buy organic roses for Valentine’s Day.The Benefits
- Eco-certification systems are now firmly in place for flowers, so lose the guilt for wanting a dozen classic beauties. If you live in Europe, you can even buy Fair Trade Certified flowers.
- Organic growing practices are now used by even some of the largest growers, protecting the land, the water and the workers. 70% of the cut flowers sold in the USA are from Ecuador and Colombia; give these countries some love by buying products that protect workers in these developing countries.
- Stuck in Peoria on business travel? (Apologies if you live in Peoria). Buying online is fast and efficient, which we find very romantic.
Personally Speaking
Number of long-term relationships we (combined) have had? Eight. Number that have broken up in February? Seven. We share that not because we want any pity presents . . . no way, not us.Wanna Try?
- Organic Bouquet and California Organic Flowers – get organic flowers shipped direct from the grower ($39.95 avg).
- Local Harvest – find and buy seasonal flowers from your local farmers’ market (okay, maybe only if you live in Australia, Florida or California).
- Veriflora - check their list for third-party certified suppliers and distributors.
- Network for Good – your organic flower purchases help support charity
Feb 09,2006
Sponsor
All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
Roses are Red, Violets are Modest
I don't mean to be a jerk, but if you send me roses (unless they are organic, of course), you lack imagination. If they are in a decorative basket that I should later use for serving bread, it becomes even more apparent that you have NO IDEA what you are doing.
And if - god forbid - there is any sort of stuffed animal anywhere near said arrangement, you can pretty much guarantee that ours will be a short-lived affair.
(In the interests of full disclosure, I got precisely that arrangement once. I stayed with that guy for three years. This was a serious lapse in judgment. I shoulda taken my cue from the flowers. Oh - the meaning was right - the guy just wasn't).
Life used to be a bit more simple by being somewhat more complex. In Victorian times, the kinds of flowers you sent were a code to your feelings.
So if you are feeling a bit coy, here's a nice little key to help you decide really what kind of (organic) flowers you want to send this holiday: http://www.victorianbazaar.com/meanings.html. (Apologies for the fact that the background looks like someone vomited flowers all over your screen - this site makes the Unicorn Tapestries look naked and unadorned).
So, check it out, and you can see why - this year - I prefer receiving pansies to roses, and hope never to receive rhododendrons as a gift.
-Heather... off to rifle through old love letters...
Biter Comments...
Wow that's really sassy and all, but judging a human being's spirit by the *gift* that they send you says a heck of a lot more about your shallowness than it does theirs. I'm sure karma will ensure that you end up in a nice loveless marriage with a floral expert someday.
i wouldn't agree with 'a guy's' comment regarding shallowness and this gift. after a friend of many, many years proclaimed his love for me with a card he had someone else sign (to hide who he was) and left it with cut flowers- i knew it would never work.
i have a love for plants and it became very apparent that he didn't pay very much attention to the type of person i am when he gave me flowers that were cut and would soon die. a potted plant would have worked much more to his favor.
he wasn't the one for me and so it could have been very good for me that this symbol turned me off indefinitely.
Certainly, "a guy" should keep his curses to himself. Giving is an essential factor in romance (hear that, cheapskates?) and the choice of gifts conveys the giver's intentions better than words. Look up the word, "psychometry."
A gift is a gift if it comes from the heart. FYI I just found out that New Seasons Market is the only brick and mortar retailer west of the Mississippi to offer fair-trade roses--pretty cool if you live in this area.
Heather, I can't agree w/ you more! Roses, esp'y the long-stemmed farmed ones, are just plain boring--cliched, even. Nothing pleases me more than a gift of flowers IN SEASON. Tulips in spring, mums in fall, etc. My friends call me churlish when I try to 'correct' my dear husband's flower buying habits, but dang it, why waste money on cliched flowers??? Roses: ptooey!
Wow, this is so sad. So many men have NO idea what to get the women they love for Valentine's Day: they're out there freaking out because they love you but they read this and then see that every. single. aspect. of their gift--a material gift, rather than the gift of love or respect or time--is being cruelly critiqued. This is horrible. A gift should be measured by the love behind it, not by whether it "bores" you or not. You sound so jaded. I'm sorry your relationship with that guy whose flowers bored you didn't work out, but frankly if the FLOWERS were the only bellwether to give that away, you maybe weren't looking at the relationship with a thoughtful enough eye.
I can not believe the comments about you being shallow and materialistic. If a person takes the time to really know and understand you, they will know what an appropriate gift will be.
To "a guy" and "Lucinda": is it shallow to expect the giver to KNOW the person to whom they give a gift? I'm sorry, but roses are a cop-out: they're not much better than the singing-monkey-plush-and-plastic-flower bit you can pick up at Walgreen's for $7.99. Isn't it rather shallow on the part of the giver to resort to an old cliche? If you're giving a gift to someone you CARE about, shouldn't you care enough about them to know what kind of gift to give? My boyfriend would never EVER buy me a boquet of cut flowers, because he knows I much prefer living plants that will continue to grow and be beautiful. He cares enough to recognize those things, unlike some who are too SHALLOW to invest that energy in a relationship, and who would therefore buy a gift just to give "something." Those gifts aren't from the heart; they're just "something."
FLOWERS ARE A WASTE! Save your money. I'd rather have a hand written note/poem from my hubby written on lovely stationary. Now this would be something I could keep FOREVER!
I am sorry to be so negative but I really don't like Valentines Day. We are bombarded with 9 million suggestions from all directions and every suggestions starts with "This gift is PERFECT for you special one". I honestly think that most people feel 'damned if they do and damned if they don't'. My Honey and I agree every year that we are not going to celebrate but he gets so overwhelmed by all the comments his female co-workers make about how they expect to be so disappointed with the crummy gift that they will get this year. He ends up fretting and trying to buy me lots of expensive things when I have told him a hundred times that all I want is a simple intimate dinner. What a miserable way to celebrate a holiday that's supposed to be all about love and appreciation. Again, Sorry!! I didn't mean to get on a soap-box.
I like roses. :) I think if you have been with someone a while, it is reasonable to expect them to know you, and mostly have heard you if you said you don't like flowers or if you said you do. However, if someone doesn't know you very well, it is rude to say, "This gift is SO not me." Well, I guess it's rude no matter when, but the former case is more understandable.
Shaina, it's not shallow at all to expect the person to know you & to give you a gift that's thoughtful, but to be so reductive about the whole thing is really inappropriate, in my opinion. For example, I know my BF is utterly stymied about the upcoming V-Day, and if he buys me flowers I will love them as much as if he bought me that "perfect" gift. All I really want for V-Day is his love. If I can't feel that love without him purchasing me "that perfect gift," then (a) this is not a good relationship to begin with or (b) I need to stop being so materialistic.
in a perfect world, we would all get what we want, when we want it, and who we want it from.......but alas, it is not a perfect world.....we are imperfect creatures just trying our best to love and be loved......take what someone gives you in the spirit in which it was intended and be gracious...
joyce
Thank you Joyce. I think that says it all!
Very eloquently said Joyce... I couldn't agree more.
Laura stole my thunder a bit, lol; but I was going to say I "love" roses. All colors. If they're (freshly) cut, they open & open until they look like saucers. Can't seem to resist taking pictures from bud to full bloom. Then I hang them upside down to dry with a pretty bow tied around & use them all over the house to decorate. In the summer when it's humid, the natural scent really floats around from the dried roses. I do love to get plants that will continue growing; but believe in using all the cut flowers the way I do, it's much less wasteful. Even conserving. And they're so Victorian... which is my decor style.
Blessings,
Debbie
I feel when someone is thoughtful enough to think of you on Valentine's Day and buy you a gift, that you should be thankful and feel that you are special to that person. After all they took the time and thought about you. If you did not receive anything from this person, you would then have another complaint about them. People like you don't deserve a gift with that kind of an attitude. You should experience the side of many who do not receive anything on Valentine's Day because they either have no one that is thoughtful enough or are not into any relationship and would like to be. The people who don't receive would be grateful for any thought that was given to them.
I must admit, I agree with both Lucinda and Teresa ("a guy", you can take a hike). Women spend too much time complaining and whining about "miserable gifts" they have recieved in the past; nobody, least of all our beaus, deserve the marketing stress behind V-Day. Shouldn't a holiday set aside for love be ABOUT love (which is about accepting all aspects of someone's personality and loving them anyways) instead of what somebody buys you? Part of the reason my fiance and I have gotten along so well is because we make a point celebrate Valentine's Day whenever we feel like it. He'll come out gardening or help me prepare a presentation, and I'll attend one of his wine tastings or make him his favorite dish. Then, at the end of the day, we can both say, "Happy Valentine's Day!" even if it's closer to Thanksgiving.
Doesn't the feeling count more than your preference against teddy bears?
What I'm confused about is that if Ideal Bite and so many readers think cut flowers, organic are not, are a waste or cliche, than why didn't our sassy tip writers come up with something good rather than such a cliche tip?
One of my college English professors whom I admire once told the class to never use cliches in your writing...it disinterests the reader and devalues your topic.
I, for one, would not have a complaint in the world if my boyfriend gave me nothing on Valentine's day. The ONLY thing I want from him is HIM--I want to spend the day with him, go on a bike ride, play old Mario games until midnight... I think the real problem is that Valentine's day if SO in-your-face, and SO commercialized. I absolutely adore Valentine's Day--not for the gifts, but because I like to pretend all the pretty girly decorations are for me (my birthday's the day AFTER). Just one of those stupid things, you know?
And yes, you should grateful for the thoguht someone puts into a gist, no matter how cliched. What I don't like are the drug-store gifts, the ones that require NO thought, NO energy, but just cold cash. THAT'S what I mean when I say I don't like those gifts, because they're not gifts at all--they're just "something" to give. I'd prefer to receive NO gift, rather than that.
I completely agree with you all. Valentines day shouldn't be about expensive gifts, but it should be about spending a special day with someone you love. For me just spending time together and probably going out for a dinner in the evening or even cooking dinner yourself is fine with me. A former boyfriend once had flowers delivered to me on valentines day (from this florist http://www.serenataflowers.com/), but he didn't show up the whole day. What's the point in sending me flower if he has that little interested in me anyway?
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: sara | February 09, 2006 at 08:39 AM