Florist Rose Dunnegetting ready for the rush on Valentine's Day.
I was on an internet forum recently where they were debating the pros and cons of Valentine's Day and typical of the rather negative contributions was the following: "My husband and I have Valentine's Day every day instead of just once a year to support florists and the Dutch flower industry." Ouch! Of course the reality is that come this Thursday even the most sceptical of men will be out there buying flowers and even the most sceptical of women will be delighted to receive them.
"People tend to hone in on the price side of things," says Rose Dunne, who runs a pretty boutique flower-shop, Bloomsday Flowers in Sandycove, Co Dublin. "They think florists are jacking up the price for that one day but all florists have to deal with huge increases from growers for Valentine's Day - it's just a fact of life. We sell a dozen red roses for €80 on Valentine's Day and we normally charge €50 but the price we buy them at is actually 100 per cent more, so we are making less than we normally do."
Ah, the dozen red roses. The saviour of men everywhere. Do they have to be red? And does it have to be a dozen? "Some men would come in and say that the wife would kill them if they brought home red roses and they will be looking for something a little more exotic. But for most young men, the dozen red roses is still the only way to go." There are, she says, Valentine's Day options to suit all pockets. "We have teenagers coming in for a single red rose or maybe two or three with a teddy. That will only cost them €15. Pink and white roses stay the same price all year round, so they are a good option too."
Whatever flowers you go for, they will almost certainly come from Holland. "I would love to buy Irish but there are no Irish growers. A florist needs a year-round supply of quality flowers and we just don't have the climate for that." So just how busy a week will it be? "It's incomparable with other times of the year because it all happens on one day. Everyone wants their flowers delivered on the day and there's no way around that. There will be lots of late nights earlier in the week making sure we have everything ready to go out on Thursday."
Do women ever buy flowers for men? "Absolutely. Of course, some women do it for the craic. I had a woman in last year who wanted a dozen red roses and a big balloon, the whole works, delivered to her husband on a building site. She wanted all the lads on the site to give him lots of abuse." Michael Kelly www.bloomsdayflowers.ie.