History

• Flowers became associated with Valentine's Day in the Middle Ages. By the 1800s, the practice of giving flowers and cards at Valentine's Day was widespread throughout America. The significance of flowers at this time of year may go back further than that. In ancient Rome, Lupercalia was a mid-February festival celebrating love and fertility. Flowers were a symbol for fertility. The red rose, the flower most widely connected with romantic love, was associated with Venus, the Roman goddess of love, and mother of Valentine's Day's favorite character: Cupid.
  
  

Significance

• Aside from their spring fertility connection, flowers have long been used in literature and mythology to symbolize feelings and emotions. Different types of flowers communicate different messages from the sender to the receiver. On Valentine's Day, a day set aside for expressions of love, flowers are an appropriate gift to tell someone how you feel about him. The type of flower you choose has significance, as well as the color. Each shade is supposed to convey a specific message.
  
  

Types

• Traditionally, carnations are for remembrance, and forget-me-nots beg remembrance. Chrysanthemums herald a secret admirer, while tulips make a bold declaration of love. Violets ask for faithfulness, pansies show the receiver is being thought of often, and daisies show innocent affection. Lilacs are given to a first love, lilies to a forever love. Roses, the cream of the crops of Valentine's Day flowers, always symbolize love, but their color distinguishes the type of love: Pink is for affection, yellow for friendship, white for pure and innocent love, and red for passionate, romantic love.
  
  

Considerations

• According to the Aboutflowers.com press room, Valentine's Day is the biggest day for fresh flower purchases each year, making up more than a third of all annual fresh flower purchases. Men are twice as likely to give flowers than women, though women are more likely to purchase flowers for themselves than men are.
  
  

Potential

• As "going green" is becoming a goal of more people, how flowers are grown and handled is becoming as important as how pretty they are or what they might symbolize. Many growers and flower retailers are responding to demands from consumers that flowers be organic, grown without harmful pesticides and chemicals, and in environmentally responsible ways. Socially conscious consumers are also seeking flowers guaranteed not to come from exploited laborers and that meet fair-trade premiums.