Flower Confidential

Be careful the next time you buy that cheap floral bouquet. Do you know where your flowers have been? And what they have been dipped in? You might want to read Amy Stewart's book about the floral industry - Flower Confidential. This is a well written book that takes the reader through the international market of cut flowers.

Some fun facts:
- Europeans buy more flowers per capita than folks in the United States - especially Germany and Switzerland.

-The United States' consumers may pay less for flowers than other countries - but there is a reason those flowers are cheap: they are not top quality and do not last as long.

- Most U.S. grocery stores have their floral areas in the worst possible place - near the produce area where the riping fruit and veggies produce ethylene. Ethylene - "which will cause downward bending of flower foliage, failure of buds to open, or open flowers to close or fall off. Florist greens will yellow, and leaves and berries will bend downward or fall off in the presence of ethylene. Damaged or diseased plant material also give off ethylene. " (from the USDA website) (Costco supposedly does a better job with their floral area than most!)

- Some foreign growers use pesticides that are banned in the United States. But try telling which flowers are which...

Stewart takes you to rose growers in Ecuador, the Miami airport's inspection area for cut flowers - where most of them are dipped in fungicide - remember that next time you take a sniff from cut flowers (most of which do not smell anyway), and the frenzied Dutch Flower auction which sets prices for most of Europe's flowers. She also writes about the growing movement for organic certification (most of Europe is already there) for flowers in the U.S.

This book is definitely worth a look if you are a flower lover. It will make you want to buy a bouquet - or run outside and cut your own. But be careful where and what you are buying.