Time to smell the roses

We love flowers.

We use organic flowers and plants to dye our knickers without any chemicals at all just like our ancestors used to.

February, the month of love also appears to be the month of flowers with 250 million roses gifted worldwide each year on Valentine’s Day.

When we think of flowers, we think of something beautiful, natural and sweet smelling. But how green really are the flowers we buy?

Let’s start with the air miles.

90% of the flowers in our shops are shipped in from as far as Ecuador and Colombia. Here there are issues with underage workers and poor working conditions. This is not good news.

The flowers are not organic either. Pesticide use for cut flowers is big. Leaving these workers exposed to deadly concoctions.

In Ethiopia alone 120 pesticides are used which are on the WHO negative pesticide list and we know what kind of damage these pesticides do to living things. The run off from the fields go into lakes and poison fish, which has a devastating effect on the communities that rely on it for their food and their livelihood.

Whilst the truth often isn’t as pretty as it may seem, all is not lost.

Here are some businesses making your bouquet a bit greener.

@livacetti is an artist and stylist renowned for her handmade paper flowers. Building on her love of flowers stemming from a childhood spent observing nature in the mountains of Santa Barbara she opened her own studio, The Green Vase, in 2005. Inspired by the organic world, each piece is meant to be an impressionistic gesture capturing the spirit of the flower, and just like the real thing, no two will ever be exactly alike.

@cutflowersbykate @flowersfromthefarm and @blackshedflowers are reviving the lost art of growing cut flowers in the UK without the need for nasty pesticides and without the air miles to go with them.

Or why not adorn your walls with the beautiful bright vases of flowers created in paper collage by @jessicapemberton.

If these clever ladies haven’t inspired you why not buy your flowers in knicker form. Head to our website!

X Ness and Prim