“What’s in a name? that which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet,” Juliet Capulet said to the silent night in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
The rose has symbolized love throughout the ages, and is the token flower for Valentine’s Day, according to John Dole, a professor of horticulture science. Even though a dozen roses can put a hole in many pockets — costing anywhere from $20 to more than $200 — roses are what some people desire for Valentine’s Day .
However, if the person receiving the roses loves them, buying them is worth the money, according to Dole. He said the process of designing and breeding different cultivars of roses is expensive and time-consuming.
“It takes anywhere from eight to 15 years to introduce a rose,” Dole said.
He said he visited a company that designs roses, selecting the best cultivars to sell to rose-breeding companies. This company, Schreurs, releases about 30 new roses a year, according to Dole. However, each year, it begins with about 100,000 seedlings with different traits. The process to select which flowers will continue takes years and is manual-labor intensive, Dole said.
To make new flowers, the workers cross two roses with the desired trait in hopes the seedling will be more beautiful or productive than both the parents, Dole said. He said there are a variety of traits they look at — color of flower and foliage, size of flower, how fast the flower opens, number of petals, thorns, post-harvest life, length of stem and longevity. This long process results in many different cultivars of roses, including ones with multiple colors.
“There is some cool, cool stuff out there,” Dole said.
However, all the work is wasted if the roses do not appeal to customers, because they are the ultimate deciders, Dole said. So breeders try to focus on what the consumers want. And consumers want roses on Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are the busiest days of the year for florists, according to Seung Parker, the lead designer for Ninth Street Flowers at Fayetteville Street Mall. She said this requires the stores to hire more help, including designers and drivers.
However, florists do not boost their prices because it is Valentine’s Day, Parker said. She said the prices are higher because the wholesalers increase their prices.
Dole said he believes the price is higher this time of year because it is the worst time to grow roses. He said roses need high light to prosper, and that is not available during this time of year, including in Columbia and Ecuador — where most roses are grown.
If a buyer’s concern is how long a rose will last, Dole said he encourages the consumer to ask the florist about guarantees. He said most places have them.
Parker said Ninth Street Flowers offers a 24-hour guarantee and after that amount of time, it is case specific.
Dole also advised consumers to go back to the florist if their flowers die quickly, because otherwise they will be disappointed.
“Usually, they will give you another bouquet,” Dole said.
He also advised consumers to find out what the receiver’s favorite flower is. He said the gift of flowers is more meaningful when it’s the person’s favorite. There are many other red flowers available at this time of the year, including tulips, lilies and carnations, according to Dole.
But, when it’s all said and done, people tend to associate roses with love, which implies their popularity on Valentine’s Day, Parker said.
