Send Flowers For Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is the busiest time of year for florists, so don't leave your choice till the last minute. Ordering online in time is particularly important. Many florists do next day delivery, but stocks may run out. Ordering early can get you the best selection of flowers chosen especially to suit your love.

Click Here for our Valentine's Day Flower Collection

Valentine's Day Roses

Millions of roses are sold all over the world on this day, so it is no wonder that their price goes up. The more aesthetically pleasing long-stemmed red rose, large headed roses are more expensive than short-stemmed, small headed roses.

Dark red roses with thorns are the pinnacle of Valentine's roses. The deep colour suggests a deep love, while the thorns serve as a reminder that love and happiness can follow from suffering. The red rose also has associations with Venus, the Roman goddess of love, and as such has further bound the flower to symbolising ultimate romance. While red roses convey passion and a deep connection, you could also send yellow roses; another emblem for love. White roses symbolise innocence, and could be a charming gift for a burgeoning romance. Pink roses are also a good choice for a new relationship. They convey happiness with the relationship, but none of the pressure associated with the depth of feeling expressed through red roses.

If you think that roses are just too expensive, express your feelings in a more original and thought-out way. Looking at the meaning of flowers, purple lilac for example, is a flower that you can give once in a lifetime as it symbolises the first flushes of first love. Orchids are stunning flowers and also signify romantic love, as well as refined beauty. These are perhaps a good gift in a long-established relationship. Acacia flowers connote beauty in retirement, and as such are a lovely gift between elderly couples who may usually ignore Valentine's Day. Red carnations are a passionate flower, but don't give pink, as this is the flower for Mother's Day. Forget-Me-Not offers a loud and clear message of love that you hope remains; a good idea for couples who may be parted on Valentine's Day. Or of course, you can ignore the supposed language of flowers, and choose attractive shapes, colours and scents that you know your partner will like. Anthurium or the flamingo flower is a striking glossy tropical flower that ranges from hot pinks to deeper reds. For a seasonal selection, tulips are available in an array of colours and shapes and hyacinths are renowned for their beautiful scent. Deep pink and purple are particularly exciting hyacinth colours. The large heads of the amaryllis are eye-catching and are also good value for money as you can get three or four heads to a stem. Calla lilies are elegant and simple, exceptionally so in white. They are a sophisticated expression of love.

Men and Flowers

Many women look forward to Valentine's Day as being the only time of year when they receive flowers from their male partners. This is a little unfair however, as how often do men get flowers? Men tend to buy Valentine's Day flowers for romantic reasons, whereas women often buy for female friends and relations as well, as a platonic affectionate gesture. If women find it so easy to buy flowers, why do so few men receive any? Men enjoy flowers as much as women and they have the ability to lift anyone's mood and bring some colour into a room. Show your man that you care and select some flowers especially for him. About 5% of Valentine's Day flowers are bought for men and this number is growing. Get your man some flowers that express his personality and show him that you love him.

History of Valentine's Day

Where did it all start? St Valentines day is a a festival that has been celebrated for centuries - with its origins dating back at least as far as the 5th century. There are several different accounts as to who Valentine was. The first theory is that he was a priest in Rome in the year 270AD, helping early Christians to escape persecution by the Roman emperor Claudius II.

The emperor learnt of Valentine's activities and attempted to make him renounce his faith. When he failed to do so, the story goes, Valentine was sentenced to dead by beheading - with the sentence carried out on 14th February.

A further embellishment to the story tells us that, while Valentine was in prison, he fell in love with the jailer's daughter ( who was blind). Before he was killed, he cured the girl from blindness and shortly before his death he sent her a note "From your Valentine" - which explains the origin of this custom.

Another version of the story is that Claudius issued an edict forbidding his soldiers from marrying: he felt that single men made better fighters than those with the responsability of wives and families. Appalled at the injustice of this decree, Valentine continued to marry soldiers in secret ceremonies. Inevitably, Claudius found out and sentenced him to death.

Why February 14th? The date of the festival could relate to the day on which Valentine (whoever he may have been) was beheaded. However, it seems just as likely that the timing is influenced by the fact that both Christians and Pagans used to celebrate festivals in early spring.

The pagans honoured the god Lupercus, celebrating a festival on the 15th February which involved the names of young girls being place into a hat. A name would then be picked out for a young man and that girl would become his sexual companion for the remaining year (with the couple exchanging gifts).

The disapproving Christians retained the tradition, but changed the rules - substituting the names of girls with the names of Christian saints, whose behaviour the young men then had to mimic. The church set the date of the festival to be 14th February and appointed St Valentine as its patron, to promote love and romantic gestures (and prevent the pagans from undertaking their more erotic celebrations on the following day!)

The tradition of celebrating Valentines Day has continued for hundreds of years and has been recognised in many cultures. The Victorians increase the Day's popularity for manufacturing the first Valentine cards. Over time, the cost of sending mail became more accessible to the general public and sending cards was no longer restricted to the privileged few.

The sending of gifts has also become part of the tradiition. The most popular and expensive gift is of coarse, flowers - in particular the red rose, which has become a powerful symbol of love and affection. There's nothing new in this - the red rose has been used for centuries to express these emotions. The ancients believed that the beauty of the rose was a result of godly creation. In Greek mythology, the gods created it for presentation to the god Eros (the God of Love) and named it the "Queen of flowers". it remains the most popular sympol of Valentines Day.

So, while its tempting to think of Saint Valentine's Day as a fairly recent phenomenon, its place in popular culture has actually been established for hundreds, or even thousands of years. As well as being one of the busiest days in the florist's calendar, its a celebration that takes us right back to Rome and the earliest days of Christianity.

February the 14th, is the best time of year to be a florist. It is the traditional occasion on which men and an increasing number of women send flowers to their partner as an expression of romantic love. Compared with cards and chocolates, flowers are the most delicate declaration of deep sentiment. Being presented with a bouquet of finely scented and naturally beautiful flowers is the ultimate homage to the love between two people.