A Rose by any other name

As January draws to a close our thoughts begin to turn to valentines day. If your lucky enough to have someone in your life you will be thinking of how to show them how you feel or maybe you dont have a a partner why not treat yourself instead.

Your first thought might be red roses after all this has become the tradition. I have to say there are better options for many reasons.

Some absolutely beautiful roses are grown in the UK and supporting British grown flowers is important. British flowers have lower transport miles and are often grown with less chemical involvement. But it is simply not going to be a British rose in February so, if your set on roses, your only option would be an imported rose. Seasonality is just as important in flowers as it is in your veg choices. Imported roses are transported over long distances and have some serious issues with how the flower workers are treated. You could try to find fair trade flowers which come with a with some feeling that your doing better by the farmers. But these flowers are still liberally treated with pesticides and herbicides as they are grown on a large scale.

Another option would be some beautiful British cut flowers. There are some lovely options available at this time of year.

For the last few years myself and my other half have been buying fruit trees. We decided we wanted a longer lasting gift that we could enjoy all year round. Now this isn’t the answer for everyone as you may only have a windowsill to grow on. If you do have a garden and go down this route then choose your variety’s carefully.

What about a house plant for those that are restricted to a windowsill. Your local garden centre will usually have some beautiful options. These to are shipped in but the long lasting nature of the houseplant means that the environmental impact is less than cut flowers. I’m particularly fond of orchids which are widely available and if treated correctly will flower again. You could try a container of seasonal bulbs or a succulent. Try to avoid anything painted or covered in glitter as well as being terrible for the plant it all contains plastic which as we all know isn’t something we want to encourage.

If you other half is green fingered why not treat them to a whole load of seed packets. You can choose seeds for a cut flower patch that will last all year or even a whole years veg seeds. Don’t forget to check their seed stash as most green fingered people will have one somewhere.