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February 14 — Valentine's Day in Dublin: the saint's shrine and red roses
Since 1836 the relics of St Valentine, a gift from Pope Gregory XVI, have rested in Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church, and on February 14 — Valentine's Day in Dublin masses there bless couples' rings. The church blesses the rings; what goes home afterwards, or arrives at a restaurant table that evening, is chosen by the colour of the rose and the shape of the gift.
Why a Valentine's rose in Ireland has travelled to get here
Irish growers cut roses in summer and autumn. Flower Farmers of Ireland, a network that includes growers in County Dublin, lists daffodils as the spring crop and roses as a warm-season one, so Irish roses are a summer and autumn crop, and a February rose is usually imported.
Most cut flowers reach Ireland through the Netherlands, with further shipments from Kenya, Colombia, Ecuador and the UK. A rose sold in Dublin in February belongs to that route rather than to any local farm. At JFLOO the roses for an order are bought only once payment has gone through, and the bouquet is put together after that, stem by stem, for the address it is going to.
Eleven-stem bouquets come in red and white roses, both grown, cut and shipped the same way, so the choice is a matter of colour rather than season. "French" describes a technique, not a variety: the florist turns back the outer petals of each rose by hand to open the bloom wider before it is wrapped.
Victorian flower dictionaries read a red rose as passionate love and a white one as purity, though the lists compiled by different authors never agreed with each other, and the meanings shifted from book to book. Anyone who finds eleven red roses too loud a statement can send roses folded into a mixed bouquet with other flowers instead, a softer way to say the same thing without spelling it out.
A box for the dinner table, chocolate on the side
14 February is not a bank holiday in Ireland; offices and restaurants open as usual. For a dinner out, the time is agreed with the restaurant manager so the flowers arrive for dessert or for a toast.
A box, a basket or a flower bag stands on the table without a vase, so flowers in boxes suit a dinner setting better than an armful wrapped in paper. Belgian Chocolate Lips can be added to the order in the cart, for anyone who would rather the gift said more than roses alone.
Valentine's flower delivery in Dublin on the year's busiest day
The Dublin delivery page lists 14 February among the days when order numbers run far above normal, and on those days the booking slots widen and no exact minute is promised. Placing the order early keeps the wider choice of slots open rather than narrowing it down to whatever is left.
The date and the delivery slot are both set when the order is placed, and the recipient is not called ahead of time to check they will be in. The card can carry a signature or stay blank, which matters to a secret admirer as much as to anyone who simply prefers the flowers to speak first. A photograph of the finished bouquet goes out before the courier leaves, and anything that needs changing can still be changed at that point; how delivery zones work across the city is covered on its own page.
Red or white roses are the simplest place to start, and choosing between them is mostly a matter of how loud the message should be; mixed bouquets soften that choice for anyone who wants roses without the full statement. For a table booked that evening, a box needs no vase, and gifts to go with the bouquet cover the chocolates or the extra touch that finishes it off. The full flowers in Dublin selection is the wider place to browse from.