Valentine's Day roses

What it is

The classic gift is a dozen long-stemmed red roses, or a single one. Red has stood for love and desire in European tradition for centuries, and the rose was the flower of Venus in ancient Rome. Many givers now choose pink roses, mixed bouquets or tulips, which are in season and cheaper. Prices rise sharply in the week before the day, because growers must time a whole crop to be cut within a few days.

Where it comes from

The saint himself is obscure, and the link with lovers appears in English poetry of the late 1300s, in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer. Sending notes and tokens on the day was common in Britain by the 1700s, and printed cards followed. Flowers became the standard gift as the cut-flower trade grew in the nineteenth century. The winter rose was once a costly glasshouse luxury. Air freight in the later twentieth century turned it into something millions could buy.

How the roses get there

Roses for the United States come mostly from the high plains around Bogotá in Colombia and from the Andes of Ecuador, where strong light and cool nights give long stems and large heads. Roses for Europe come largely from Kenya and Ethiopia, often passing through the Dutch auctions. Stems are cut, cooled within hours and flown in refrigerated holds. Extra cargo flights are laid on in late January and early February to carry them.

Other customs on the day

The day is not the same everywhere. In Japan women give chocolate on 14 February, and men reply a month later on White Day, 14 March, usually with sweets and sometimes with flowers. South Korea follows a similar pattern. In parts of Latin America the day celebrates friendship as well as love, and Colombia marks its own day of love and friendship in September. In the southern hemisphere the date falls in late summer, when local garden roses are in bloom.

How to take part

1. Order early, or buy a few days ahead and keep the stems cool in deep water.
2. Recut the stems at an angle and strip leaves that would sit below the waterline.
3. Consider seasonal flowers such as tulips, anemones or ranunculus, which are often fresher and cheaper.
4. Ask where the roses were grown and whether the farm carries a fair-trade or environmental label.

Good manners

• Red roses read as romantic almost everywhere. Choose another colour for a friend, a host or a colleague.
• Take the price tag off, and hand the flowers over in person if you can.

The flowers

RoseWoody perennial plants with showy, often fragrant flowers in many coloursTulipSpring-blooming bulbs with showy, cup-shaped flowers in many coloursCarnationA fragrant flower with ruffled petals, grown worldwide for decoration and meaning

Also part of it, and being written: Hybrid tea rose, Ranunculus asiaticus.

Sources and further reading

• Valentine's Day on Wikipedia