RED -- Is a Rose of Any Other Color a Valentine's Day Rose?
CAPITOLA, Calif., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Red is the rose color of choice for traditional romantics, but roses of other colors are gaining ground. In 2006, 64% of roses purchased for Valentine's Day were red. That is down from 85% in 1995, according to figures from the California Cut Flower Commission (CCFC) and other leading floral industry trend-trackers.
Roses of other colors, including pink, yellow, white and peach, claimed 36% in 2006, compared with 15% in 1995.
Last year 65% of flowers sold for Valentine's Day were purchased by men. "Red roses remain the quintessential 'I love you,' at least from the man's point of view," says Kathryn Miele, director of marketing for the CCFC, headquartered in Capitola, California. "However, surveys show that while women enjoy red roses, they often prefer roses of other colors."
California growers are in tune with this trend, planting an eye-boggling selection, not just for Valentine's but year round. Enter California greenhouses and you can feast your senses on a sumptuous banquet of many hues, forms and scents.
"The split between red roses and other colored roses on a yearly basis is about 25% red and 75% other colors," explains Chad Nelson, sales manager for Eufloria Flowers, a major rose growing nursery in Nipomo, Calif. "For Valentine's Day the majority of rose growers offer a 50% red and 50% color mix. To do this we have to sacrifice more red roses in December, by pinching back the plant, which brings in more red supply for February. While we certainly enjoy strong sales for red Valentine's Day roses, it's good to see consumers are catching on to the value of giving other colors for the holiday."
Lovers can court their sweethearts with the rose color that best expresses their sentiments, be it raspberry pink, smooth cream, or a dark velvety red. 'Bull's Eye,' a rich velvet red, and 'Pole Position,' a medium red, are in demand this Valentine's season according to Nelson, but other colors are seeing a renaissance with today's hip young consumers.
This renaissance in colored roses is changing the style of Valentine's Day arrangements. Charlie Groppetti AIFD, a notable floral designer in Little Rock, Arkansas, blends roses of many hues, from dark pink to burgundy to orange to almost red, in hedge-style arrangements. And subtle shade differences in white, cream and blush colored roses combine to create a striking and sophisticated arrangement for Valentine's Day. There is also a trend toward mixing roses with other cut flowers in a range of pinks, from delicate blush to trendy hot pink, combined with fragrant yellows, mouthwatering apricot and coral colors.
Consumers have never before had so many varieties of roses with which to make their statement of love and affection. There are about 200 varieties of commercially grown fresh cut roses now available compared with just 50 or so in the 1980s.
Rose growing is big business for California growers, who produce 80% of all domestically grown fresh cut roses sold within the United States, and 10% of all the roses sold in the country. In 2006 U.S. consumers bought nearly 189 million stems of roses for Valentine's Day and about 1.2 billion of them throughout the year.
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Source: California Cut Flower Commission