Lilacs and roses bought after the new year.
Winter (even a mild one) always gets me back to the library. The first book I would love to read this winter is Flower Confidential - which will be on bookshelves soon...
In this book, Amy Stewart describes the business behind the cut flowers we all purchase (in NYC or in any major city).
For anyone who wonders about the story behind their flowers, this book promises to shed some light on the '$40 billion per year international industry' that brings them to us.
Like any specialty item that is brought to our city there is an untold story and price behind the luxury of having it at our fingertips. We often have no idea about where or how our flowers came to us; we don't ask and they don't tell. The fragrant lilacs (with roses)that sit on my table today arrived in New York much earlier than their scheduled local spring debut (these are from New Zealand), keeping silent on their travels and dutifully filling my kitchen with their fragrance.
A book like this is a good start to becoming informed of the entire price we are paying for our unseasonal luxury. I am ordering my copy today and beginning the new year by promising to question this part of my consumption. I am sure I will be saddened by some aspects of what I read, but hope to also find new points of fascination, inspiration, and ways to be mindful of my purchases of cut flowers. On the subject of ready availability and cheaper prices, I feel that flowers are important and beautiful enough to not get cheaply at any cost and fascinating enough even by the single stem to warrant a deeper appreciation by the masses. I would love to hear from readers with their own thoughts.
Amy also will be lecturing (she'll be at the NYBG on April 19). Check here to see if she'll be coming to a city near you.
matt at apartment therapy dot com
I know it'll be an ugly story, like diamonds. people don't really think of flowers as a luxury the way they were at one time. we feel entitled to have them cheap. of course we need to support alternatives but cruelty free flowers are tough to find.
Thanks for the post and Marge, when I started researching Flower Confidential, I expected the news to be all bad too, but I realized that this industry really is in the middle of a transition.
There are some better flowers out there--better for the environment, better for the workers, and even higher quality. A lot of florists say that people never ask where their flowers came from or how they were grown. I hope that changes after people read the book.
That photo of the lilacs is amazing. Having grown up in PA with gigantic lilac bushes in my front yard, I can almost smell their fragrance right through my computer! I'd be interested to know more about "cruelty free flowers" though. It never occurred to me that the flower industry would have a seedy underbelly. Do tell...
Are those roses Perfect Moments? My mum and aunts grow them in the garden. It's always so much more exciting to display home-grown flowers (unless you're like me and manage to kill even cacti and bamboo). When I got married, I always wondered where the flowers came from. I imagined fields and fields of beautiful blooms, but obviously reality isn't quite so romantic. Any idea if/when the book will come out in Australia?
By your flowers from http://www.OrganicBouquet.com That is a first start to making a difference in the bad and sad part of such a beautiful and fragrant business.
Sandra
Not to be negative here, as I think fresh flowers in the home really freshen and liven it up at any time of the year. Butit seems that many of the people who read, or at least those who post, to AT are interested in living more sustainably. I've seen posts on the use of fluorescent bulbs over incandescent, low VOC and organic paints, non-chemical household cleaners, etc., all of which I think are great. But isn't indulging in fresh flowers that are out of season locally and thus flown in from some exotic locale living unsustainably as well? Maybe those of us who are interested in living more sustainably can grow our own flowering plants, providing we have the space for them, or can at least buy flowers at the local farmers market or other similar locations that would sell only locally grown flowers?
Just a thought.
Thanks, Sandra! I hadn't heard of Organic Bouquet, though I'm not sure how, as they have gotten press everywhere. Just placed an order for V day roses. And, to top it off, there's a 20% off code which works right now:
GIFT20