The price of beauty: in City of Love, some say roses are bad for the planet

PARIS (Reuters) – It’s the classic romantic combination: Valentine’s Day in Paris, the city of love and a gift of red roses. But some Parisian florists are trying to wean customers off flowers because of their ecological cost.

Most roses sold in France in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, a peak period for the global flower industry, have to be imported by air freight from countries like Kenya, resulting in contributing carbon emissions to climate change.

Florists worried about the environmental damage from this business say there are viable alternatives that can be grown locally and are trying to encourage customers to try them.

They face an uphill struggle, as the tradition of giving red roses on Valentine’s Day, which falls on February 14, is so ingrained in many cultures.

Hortense Harang, founder of an online flower shop called “Fleurs d’Ici” – in French for “Fleurs from here” – spearheaded the campaign to wean roses.

“Red roses are so 50s,” she says.

“Roses is something that is completely banned this season because it doesn’t make sense to buy roses. Roses do not grow in our latitudes in this season.

His campaign garnered support. “It doesn’t make sense to have flowers on the other side of the planet if we can get them locally,” said Edith Besenfelder, a 46-year-old Parisian florist who works with local and seasonal flowers.

But the old habits are dead. Céline Argente, 40, owner of Sylvine flower shop in Paris, said she encouraged her customers to buy red tulips to declare their love. But despite this, her shop this week was full of red roses, to keep up with demand.

“It’s a classic that people can’t change,” she says. “The red rose remains the flower of Valentine’s Day.”