Written by Rona Wheeldon
February 02, 2015
This month, to help you in your decision making as to which red roses to buy for Valentine's Day, we thought we'd switch things around and feature our Product Profile early.
Without doubt, the forerunners in the popularity stakes this year appear to be Red Naomi (pictured below) and Freedom, followed by Grand Prix. Read on to find out more about these much sought after romantic flowers…
Background
Red is by far the most popular colour of rose to give to your loved one on February 14th. And according to the Language of Flowers, they signify love and passion.
From the Rosaceae family, there's a little confusion as the origin of the name, rose. Some are of the opinion that it comes from 'Rosa', the Latin for red. And others feel that it comes from the Celtic 'rhod', also meaning red.
Red roses are available all year round and tend to come from Holland, Colombia and Ecuador.
Types
Here are some of the different varieties, which you'll find at Nine Elms.
Red Naomi
Freedom
Grand Prix
Black Baccara
Red Paris
Hallelujah
Forever Young
Red Desire
Red Piano
Hearts
Tess
General Advice
Red roses are available in a range of stem lengths, including 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90cm. Depending on the variety, they'll come in wraps of 10, 20 or 25 stems.
Andy at Alagar (pictured below) says:
"Freedom from Colombia is one of our best-selling roses and it's a 'good laster'. Red Naomi are also popular."
David at D G Wholesale Flowers says: "Red Naomi have overtaken Grand Prix in terms of demand. And over the last two years, Freedom has become more and more popular."
Graeme at Zest Flowers says: "Now is a great time of year for Colombian grown roses and Freedom are becoming very popular. They're cheaper than Red Naomi and tend to have longer stems, when a 60cm Freedom is compared to a 60cm Red Naomi rose, for example."
Dennis at Dennis Edwards Flowers says: "Red Naomi are becoming more sought after, helped by the fact that they're scented. And Freedom is also popular and very reliable. Grand Prix on the other hand, seems to be less in demand."
Trevor at S Robert Allen says: "Freedom roses from Ecuador, as they come in by air, have protective packaging (as shown below). And they're cheaper than Dutch red roses.
"Red Naomi are popular and tend to have a bigger head than Grand Prix."
Trevor and Maurice at S Robert Allen.
It's highly recommended that you order your red roses in advance and give the traders as much notice as possible. All the traders' contact details can be found in the online Traders Directory.
Design Inspiration
Here are some examples of wonderful floral designs featuring red roses.
(Source: Blue Sky Flowers)
(Source: McQueens)
(Source: Jane Packer)
(Source:Emma Farah / Rob Van Helden)
(Source: Wild at Heart)
Your Designs
We'd love to see photos of designs you've made featuring red roses from New Covent Garden Flower Market. Simply send an email to info@cgma.co.uk, stating your company name and website address. Or if you prefer, you could post your photo on Twitter and copy us in, by including @MarketFlowers and the hash tag #AMarketValentines in your tweet. We'll then upload your photos into this section.
(Source: Yeomans Flowers)
(Source: Rebel Rebel)
(Source: Simora Rattray Hare at Flower Love London)
(Source: Kensington Flowers)
(Source: Boom Blooms)
(Source: Charlene Hutsebaut)
(Source: Stems UK)
Red Roses Reign Supreme
I hope you've enjoyed reading this month's Product Profile and seeing the wonderful array of red roses available! They certainly reign supreme on Valentine's Day and it's very interesting to see how certain varieties are starting to take over in the popularity stakes.
You may like to read these previous Valentine's Day posts, which looked at the popular roses in 2012 and 2013.
Please do ask away below if you have any questions or would like to make any general comments. As always, we'd love to hear from you. And we'd like to wish you all a very smooth run-up to February 14th and hope it all goes well for you on the big day!
P.S. The red rose is also part of St George's Day celebrations in England on April 23rd and it's the emblem embroidered on the England rugby team's shirts.
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