Northern Ireland florist Penny Hamilton gives tips on the best ways to prolong the life of your Valentine's Day roses

Penny Hamilton who runs Penelope Flowers on the King’s Road in east Belfast said: “We are finding this year busier. It’s always a busy time, but this year we’re definitely finding it busier. People are more organised. There are a lot more people who have been placing orders up to two weeks before Valentine’s Day.

"It used to be a mad dash to the florists the day before, but this year and last year people have been a lot more organised. It’s maybe because people are having to plan their finances a bit more, and maybe attitudes have changed after lockdown.

"This year, I think maybe because there has been a bit of a stigma for a while – people are being told ‘don’t buy flowers, don’t waste you money’. Actually, now people are saying I’m going to make the decision for myself.

"We’re selling more red roses than we ever have done before. There’s definitely a trend back to the red rose because I think people are fed up of being told by the media that they shouldn’t be buying them.”

She added: "There are hundreds of thousands of varieties of roses and thousands of varieties of red. You can get some that cost pence and others that cost the florist seven or eight pounds a stem. We tend use a red Naomi rose, probably the best you can get.”

On maintaining roses she said: “Make sure the leaves are taken off the stem otherwise the water will go to the leaf before the head. It’s importance to keep trimming the rose, taking leaves out of the water and changing the water regularly. Also keeping them out of direct sunlight and away from heat. You’ll get seven to 10 days out of a good rose, but there has to be a bit of ownership.”

Penny said her Valentine’s customers were largely men buying for women, with a tendency towards slightly older men.

Asked how the market has changed due to Covid, Brexit and cost of living increases, she said: “Most roses would come from Holland, but with the cost of heating the large greenhouses and tunnels in which the flowers are grown a lot of the growers have closed down. There are a lot, lot less people growing flowers in Holland than there used to be.

“A lot of the roses are Columbian now. It used to be 80% of roses were Dutch and 20% were Columbian. I would say now it’s probably half and half.

"Another issue that florists are having is that the cost of all flowers has gone up dramatically. What we’re buying flowers at now is more than we were selling them for pre-Covid. The margin has totally gone, all the flowers shops are relying on volume. It’s a really tough industry at the minute.”

Penny observed that Brexit hasn’t had too much of an impact: “When we're bringing the flowers across we’re using a wholesaler. For them, it has meant extra checks at the border, the stuff coming across being delayed by maybe a couple of hours by paperwork, but we’re not really feeling that at our end.”