Any hope that Irish males are becoming more romantic, based on the phenomenal growth in the sale of cut flowers, was dashed yesterday by Bord Glas, the Irish Horticulture Board.
For although the sale of fresh cut flowers has soared to €60 million annually, the bad news for romantics is that these were mainly purchased by females, not the male of the species.
According to Ms Teresa Brophy of Bord Glas, most flowers are purchased by women in supermarkets with their shopping or in florists, for display in the home.
"Men, on the other hand, tend to buy flowers on Valentine's Day or other important occasions, from florist shops. They spend more on their single purchase than women but buy far less often," she said. "No, I'm afraid that you cannot deduce from the figures that Irishmen are becoming more romantic because the figures don't show that."
However, the Bord Glas research found that Irish people are now spending an astonishing €494 million annually on plants, shrubs and on landscaping, up from €344 million in 2000.
"We estimate that half of this spend, almost a quarter of a billion euro, is on fresh cut flowers which make up 24 per cent of the spend, shrubs/hedges make up 16 per cent, trees 14 per cent and flowering plants, 13 per cent," she said.
"It appears we are catching up on the rest of Europe, especially Britain, in this regard and more and more people are becoming involved in a gardening revolution.
"There are a number of elements involved including more disposable income and changing lifestyles which involve more gardening activity," she said.
"The rising price of houses is also a factor because we discovered that people who might have moved house in previous times, have now decided to stay where they are and spend more money on their homes and their gardens." Ms Brophy said Irish consumers spent €82 million on plants in independent garden centres.