Valentine's Day marks one of the busiest periods for florists, with sales skyrocketing in the days leading up to February 14. Red roses, in particular, remain the top choice for romantic gestures. However, there's also a growing demand for alternative blooms, including tulips, orchids, and mixed floral arrangements, reflecting consumers' desire for uniqueness.
With the commencement of Valentine’s Week on February 7, the purchase of roses and other flowers has also increased, filling the aroma in the lives of flower farmers and sellers. One such floriculturist is Subrata, owner of Plants Rose World in West Bengal, who has been in the flower-selling business for the last 25 years.
On days such as Rose Day and Valentine’s Day, his flower sales increase by almost 50 percent. However, the profit that he makes is marginally lower on the everyday sales. The cost of labor, fertilisers, and maintenance is a big issue for him and many in the nursery business. The most number of flowers sold during Valentine’s Week are roses and bouquets of a Chandra Mallika, famously known as the Chrysanthemum. He expanded his business on online platforms such as Flipkart and Amazon, through which he incurs an extra income. However, this requires the cost of packaging, maintenance, and marketing.
Subrata sells almost all varieties of flowers and many varieties of roses including climbing rose, dutch rose, grandiflora rose, black rose, and china rose. However, there are challenges associated with the flower business, such as maintaining the quality of a plant with excessive care including giving timely fertilisers, pouring water, pruning, and curing and preventing plants from diseases. As every flowering plant is different, each has its special needs. Taking care of so many plants at once is a challenge for Subrata whose nursery is stretched over 20 acres of land.
During the COVID-19 phase, many nursery owners incurred huge losses, and that’s when Subrata thought of expanding his business in the online domain. “Online delivery of plants was a big relief during COVID,” Subrata said. “People are in a race to decorate their terrace gardens, but they don’t know how to take proper care of plants,” he said. Subrata steps in and helps buyers to understand the nature of the plants they buy.
The flowers that young and old lovers buy have a market strategy behind them, tells Subrata. As a floriculturist, he studies the seasonality of different flower plants, he then makes an appropriate atmosphere for them to grow and makes sure to pluck the right quantity of flowers, as another risk that involves the flower business is the fear of them getting stale and rotten.
“Plants are like infants. They need care at every step of their growth, and I always urge people to buy not only a flower but a plant as well,” said Subrata. He has a BSc. in Agriculture and makes quite well for himself, garnering an approximate sales of a lakh every month.
Subrata’s message to flower buyers this Valentine’s is to decorate their homes with plants to enhance their mental health as well as to eliminate the side effects of brimming pollution.
