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February 14 — Valentine's Day in Boston: French roses by way of Miami
February 14 — Valentine's Day in Boston brings roses to the shops only after they have passed through Miami. In the 2018 Valentine's season around 1.3 billion stems came through Miami International Airport, 74.5% of them from Colombia and 18.1% from Ecuador, and that is still the road the fourteenth's roses travel, through Miami and the wholesalers who buy there. Choosing for the day comes down mostly to the rose itself, its colour and its count; everything else on the order form is there to go with it.
Red French roses for a Boston Valentine's, petals opened by hand
Across the US in 2022, roses made up 83% of the flowers bought for the fourteenth, and 65% of those were red. A French rose is a technique, not a variety: the florist folds back the outer petals by hand so the bloom opens wider. 11 Red French Roses and 11 White French Roses differ only in colour. Outside the Russian custom of even and odd numbers, a dozen or near enough is an ordinary count for roses to arrive in.
The same road carries the stems further north once they clear Miami. A wholesaler in Hartford, Connecticut, sends its order to the farms in mid-January, and shipments arrive from 1 February. Boston's own flower market felt that pressure directly: in 2017 the Boston Flower Exchange won a month's delay on its move from the South End to Chelsea, rather than relocate in the middle of the Valentine's season. At JFLOO the flowers are bought after an order is paid, not before, so nothing is bought on spec and left waiting. The eleven stems chosen for a Red or White French Rose order are counted out by the florist just before the bouquet is tied.
The valentine began in Worcester: what goes with the roses
The valentine itself has a Massachusetts address. Esther Howland began printing the first mass-produced valentines in the country in Worcester, not long after 1847. A card with a message comes free with the bouquet, and a few words of the sender's own say more than a stock phrase. Where the recipient has nowhere to stand a vase, a box, a basket, a flower handbag or a potted plant needs no vase; see flowers in boxes. Chocolate such as the Belgian Chocolate Lips, a cake or a foil balloon can be added to the same order in the cart; see gifts to go with the bouquet.
Booking Valentine's flower delivery for the busiest florist day
February 14 — Valentine's Day in Boston is, like everywhere else in the country, the single busiest day on a florist's calendar: it accounts for 30% of florists' holiday transactions against 26% for Mother's Day. On the fourteenth itself the volume of orders runs far higher than usual, delivery windows are wider than on any other date, and no courier promises an exact minute. Booking a few days ahead is the simplest way around that, since the earlier an order goes in, the more open slots are still there to choose from.
The service itself stays what it is on any other date. Nobody calls the recipient beforehand unless the sender asks, the card can be signed or left anonymous, and a phone number is enough to send the flowers without a street address at all; a photo of the finished bouquet goes out before the courier leaves. Delivery to the centre is free, and the rest of the delivery zones are listed on that page. Snow at the kerb and a hotel reception both change how a bouquet is handed over, and the Boston flowers guide covers both.
Where the address has no room for a vase, flowers in boxes travel better than loose stems wrapped in paper. For a table or a shared space rather than one recipient, mixed bouquets bring several kinds of flower into one arrangement instead of a single variety. For the classic choice, a dozen or so roses remain the simplest place to start.