When we want to purchase a bouquet of flowers, most of us probably find ourselves shelling out a few bucks for a plastic-wrapped arrangement at our nearby grocery store (which might rhyme with Shrader Shmoe’s).
But as convenient as this is, the mainstream flowering world isn’t so pretty.
While the global floriculture industry is worth over $36 billion a year, the United States is the largest consumer of cut flowers, with a not-so-rosy penchant for importing flowers from other countries.
Most flowers in the U.S. are flown from Colombia and Ecuador, and the ideal goal of getting a bloom from the farm to your kitchen centerpiece within five days means that the environmental footprint of your bouquet might look a little like Taylor Swift’s private jet tracker.
Plus, flowers that are grown with the intention to be cut, shipped, and sold rapidly require a lot of water and may even lead to chemical runoff — not to mention all of the refrigeration involved in long-haul transport, or the gas used in floral delivery.
The problem actually stems from a War On Drugs-era law in which the U.S. government gave tax incentives to South American farmers to grow plants and flowers other than coca, the plant from which cocaine is derived.
This led to a massive reliance on foreign flowers in the U.S. — and the systemic mistreatment of farm workers in low-income countries.
We know: It’s a lot to take in. How can something as sweet as a handful of gerbera daisies from the grocery store be so insidious?
The good news is that sustainable florists across the globe do not want to accept this reality. Enter: The Slow Flowers Movement.
It’s simple: The Slow Flowers Movement encourages people to embrace local, seasonal, and sustainable flowers.
“It is a movement to know where your flowers are grown, your farmer’s name, the ethical conditions of the workers, and types of chemicals used (if any) to grow your flowers,” sustainable florist Holly Łukasiewicz of District 2 Floral Studio, wrote in an Instagram post.
Florists who are part of this movement (they’re usually members of the Slow Flowers Society) are dedicated to things like working with flowers during their natural blooming seasons, sourcing from small and local farmers, reducing their transportation footprint, eliminating waste and chemicals, prioritizing BIPOC growers, and more.
When shopping for flowers, everyday consumers can also choose to support small and local farms, or floral artists like Łukasiewicz who are transparent in their efforts to flower with care.
To find local growers, start by perusing the Slow Flowers listing directory.
“The Slow Flowers Movement recognizes that there is a disconnect that has disengaged humans from small-scale flower farming. It aspires to take back the act of flower growing and recognize it as a relevant and respected branch of agriculture in the U.S.,” Debra Prinzing, the author of the 2013 book “Slow Flowers,” writes.
“As a Slow Food chef cooks with what is seasonally available, a Slow Flowers florist designs with what is seasonally available. In a way, this also means that we redefine beauty.”
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A version of this article was originally published in The 2024 Plants Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header image by Oxana Melis on Unsplash
