February 14 — Valentine's Day in Los Angeles

February 14 — Valentine's Day in Los Angeles: the rose that flies in

California grows over three quarters of the flowers cut in the US, but the rose bought for February 14 — Valentine's Day in Los Angeles — usually arrives by plane. Each January the US imports around eleven million roses a day; of all imported cut flowers, more than half come from Colombia and about a quarter from Ecuador. After a journey like that, what is left to settle is the colour, the format and how early to order.

Red first, or white: settling the colour of a Valentine's rose

In 2022, roses made up 83 per cent of the flowers Americans bought for the holiday, and 65 per cent of those roses were red, according to the Society of American Florists. Red keeps its old meaning from Victorian floriography, passionate love, while pink reads as a softer feeling and white as purity, though no single dictionary of flower meanings ever became standard.

"French rose" isn't a botanical variety; it describes what a florist does to the bloom, bending the outer petals back by hand so it opens wider than it would on its own. That's the idea behind 11 Red French Roses and 11 White French Roses, each sold by the stem rather than gathered into a bunch.

In a Korean or Chinese household, where white reads as mourning rather than as romance, red is the safer colour to send.

A dozen identical roses can feel too straightforward for some recipients, and that is where a mixed bouquet works better than one flower repeated a dozen times. Los Angeles florists also work with lisianthus, lilies, hydrangea, Misty and gerberas.

One flower needs a warning of its own: every part of a lily is toxic to cats, so a household with a cat is not the place to send one.

Checking what mixed bouquets actually contain is simple: the finished arrangement is photographed before the courier leaves. When a particular flower runs short, florists substitute something similar in colour, and the photo shows exactly what went into the wrap.

A box, strawberries and a foil heart for a Los Angeles table

A hat box of roses in Los Angeles needs no vase: the stems sit in floral foam soaked with water, so the box stands on any table. The foam wants watering every day, over its whole surface, because once it dries out it barely takes water back in.

Strawberries, a free card with a written message, balloons or sweets can be added to the order alongside the flowers.

A Heart Foil Balloon holds its helium for several days, while a latex balloon lasts only about half a day.

Valentine's flower delivery in Los Angeles starts with a January order

Wholesalers place their orders with plantations in the middle of January, and shipments start arriving from the first of February, the roses kept at around 1–2°C (33–35°F) the whole way. That timing is what makes a fresh rose possible by the fourteenth.

On the day itself, order volumes run far higher than usual, so the delivery windows widen and no courier promises an exact minute; timing for any bouquet shows on its own page. Ordering a few days ahead, rather than on the fourteenth, leaves more time slots open for any address in the city.

An order for Valentine's flower delivery in Los Angeles is booked to a date and a time slot in any zone; the delivery terms and zones page has the details. A photo of the finished bouquet goes out before the courier leaves, and a card can be left unsigned if the sender prefers to stay anonymous.

Start with the format: French roses by the stem for a direct gift, or flowers in boxes for an address without a vase. Strawberries, a card and a balloon count as gifts to go with bouquets, worth adding once the flowers themselves are settled.