A beautiful flower can be the perfect way to show your love for someone.
From get-well-soon wishes to happy anniversary gifts, flowers are used for all sorts of things.
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Flowers are also used to offer your condolences at funerals or congratulate someone on graduating. They are more affordable than jewelry and convenient to purchase for any occasion.
Since they are used for so many events in our society, let’s learn a little about them.
The Flower Industry
The cut flower industry is a very profitable and huge market that spans across every country. It has been estimated that the cut flower industry makes over $33 billion every year. The flower industry started to gain traction in the early 19th century in England. The United States, Japan, and the Netherlands accounted for almost half of the flower trade of the world.
After the 1990s, the trend started shifting. The flower industry has slowly started moving to tropical locations for production. Countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Colombia, and Ecuador are favorable for a lot of flower harvests since they experience the right sort of climate conditions. The labor costs in the countries are also low, which can help the cut flower industry save millions every year.
The Most Popular Cut Flowers
The most popular cut flowers are definitely roses! They are a symbol of beauty, romance, and love – perfect for your loved ones. They come in all sorts of colorful shades, including red, purple, pink, peach, orange, coral, and white. While roses are grown across the globe due to their popularity, the biggest exporter is the Netherlands.
Other trendy cut flowers include:
- Irises come in all sorts of lovely colors include deep purple, bluish-purple, white, yellow, and lavender. They have pointed, thin, and long leaves.
- Tulip cut flowers come in purple, lavender, red, orange, pink, peach, yellow, white, and bi-colors. They last for 1-7 days in the vase.
- Snapdragons come in white, lavender, purple, pink, burgundy, yellow, and orange. They can last up to 5-10 days in the vase.
- Aster flowers come in pink, white, lavender, hot pink, purple, red, and white. They have pretty yellow centers and resemble daisies.
- Gladiolus flowers come in cream, green, white, buff, yellow, orange, salmon, red, lavender, blue, purple, and terra cotta. They can last for 7 to 10 days in the vase with ease.
- Many recipes substitute tulip bulbs for onions.
- Chrysanthemums are considered unlucky in Malta and are associated with funerals.
- Saffron, one of the most expensive spices in the world, is made from the Cronus flower.
- Almost 605 of all cut flowers that are grown in the United States are harvested in California.
- Centuries ago, Vikings tried to invade Scotland but were slowed down by wild thistle patches. This gave the Scots enough time to escape, which is why the wild thistle flower is named as Scotland’s National Flower.
Interesting Facts about Cut Flowers
- Flowers appeared around 140 million years ago. Before that time, the earth was dominated by cone and fern bearing trees.
- Tulips were more valuable than gold in the 1600s in Holland.
- Orchids don’t really need soil to grow since they get all of their necessary nutrients from the air.
- Broccoli is classified as a flower.
- All flowers don’t smell good. The strangest, smelliest, and the rarest flower is the Corpse flower. It smells like rotting flesh and rises over 8 feet tall.
- The Bird of Paradise is a famed plant that looks like a tropical bird.
- Roses are closely related to raspberries, apples, peaches, cherries, plums, pears, and nectarines.
- Aster leaves were burnt by ancient civilizations to protect against evil spirits.
Moving Forward with Cut Flowers
As we have learned, cut flowers are an integral part of our rituals and traditions. However, we need to be more careful about how we grow them since they can negatively impact the environment otherwise. It is important to push for locally-grown flowers. Growing flowers without any harmful pesticides and ones that are friendly to the local bee population is always a great idea.
These eco-friendly flowers are sometimes referred to as ‘slow flowers.’ The intention here is to grow the flowers in such a way that you don’t rush the process with any artificial interventions or harmful chemicals. This process makes them friendlier to the environment as well as healthier for the consumer.
Any step we take towards a healthier, safer future can make a huge difference. This is why we need to stop and consider our impact on the environment every single day. For the next birthday, anniversary, or celebration, get eco-friendly flowers for your loved ones!
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