720x720_q85.jpg?v=1787893485)
720x720_q85.jpg?v=1787130516)
720x720_q85.jpg?v=1787130516)
February 14 — Valentine's Day in Singapore: red roses and the Lunar New Year
February 14 — Valentine's Day in Singapore can fall only days from the Lunar New Year, whose date moves every year: some years it lands barely a week before, others a few days after. Pussy willow, kumquats and orchids for the new year go on sale one to two weeks ahead, so the roses for Valentine's Day are ordered in the same fortnight. A bunch of French roses, a mixed arrangement with lisianthus or a box that travels without a vase all need booking before that fortnight fills up.
Valentine's roses in Singapore: grown abroad, opened by the florist
Singapore grows almost none of the flowers sold here itself. Roughly a quarter of all cut flowers entering the country arrive from China, which sends roses, chrysanthemums and lisianthus alongside Taiwan, and India ships roses of its own. Which particular farm supplied a given bouquet is not something a shop can promise, only the general routes the flowers travel to get here. Changi Airport runs a dedicated perishables terminal, and cut flowers pass through it with the rest of the island's chilled cargo.
French is not a variety of rose. It describes a florist bending the outer petals back by hand, so the flower opens wider than it ever did on the bush. Both red and white roses come as a fixed count of eleven stems, which makes the two easy to set side by side before a Valentine's order goes in.
The bouquet called Roses with Lisianthus sets red roses beside lisianthus, and the second flower reaches Singapore the same way the first one does, out of China and Taiwan. It sits among the shop's mixed bouquets, where more than one kind of flower shares the wrap rather than standing alone.
A box, by contrast, arrives already arranged. There is no vase to hunt down in a hotel room and no stems to trim, because the flowers sit in soaked foam built into the box itself. A free card can be signed by the sender or left blank.
Chocolate-dipped strawberries can be added to the flowers, and Singapore's climate is exactly why they cannot sit around. Cocoa butter melts at 34 to 38 degrees, and the city runs at 31 to 33 degrees through the afternoon most of the year, so a courier hands the strawberries straight to the recipient rather than leaving them on a step in the sun. The same heat, plus the dry draught from an air conditioner indoors, is worth knowing before flowers go on a windowsill, and the air-con and afternoon sun page covers what a Singapore flat does to a bouquet left there.
Valentine's flower delivery in Singapore in a Lunar New Year fortnight
The Lunar New Year's date floats from one year to the next, and some years it lands only days from the 14th. Pussy willow branches, whose name in Chinese sounds like "there is silver, there is a home", together with kumquat trees and orchids, are bought one to two weeks ahead of the new year, the same stretch in which Valentine's orders start coming in. Red carries its own weight apart from romance in Chinese tradition, standing for celebration, weddings and good fortune, which is one more reason red roses move through both occasions at once.
On 14 February itself, orders run far higher than on an ordinary day, so delivery slots widen and a courier cannot promise an exact minute; booking a few days ahead is the safer course rather than leaving it to the morning. Every bouquet is made up after payment clears, and the finished flowers are photographed before the courier sets off, so the sender sees what is going out before it arrives. The recipient's phone number is enough to get a bouquet to a home or an office door, with no street address required, and the card can carry a name or stay unsigned. Zones across the island and the current delivery terms are set out on their own page.
A first order for February 14 — Valentine's Day in Singapore is easiest to start with the flower itself: eleven roses, in red or white, on their own or joined by lisianthus in a mixed bouquet. Anyone sending flowers to a hotel or an office with no vase in sight can look at flowers in boxes instead; both arrive with a card. On the day itself, delivery slots run wider than usual.