Selfsufficientish.com

I have just been reading the 27th May issue of The Ecologist magazine and I'm amazed about the article about flowers. You know, it's something I have never thought of. Flowers are just - there! - aren't they? I've never eally cared for cut flowers in the house, I prefer seeing them live and die in the outdoors, where they should be, rather than in my living room. Now I have fuel for my fire for not wanting bought flowers

• a large flower farm can use upwards of 80,000 litres of water every day
  
  there are no regulations for use of pesticides on cut flowers
  
  workers on flower farms are often deprived of basic protection against chemicals, aren't paid well, and aren't treated well, and are often children
  
  flowers are flown from all around the world, sometimes up to 6,000 miles, in order to reach the UK - think of the fuel usage/wastage!

I always think about it when you see someone who has died and the amount of flowers (and plastic wrapping!!) laid in a huge pile - like when Diana died - and I just think, what a waste. Waste of money - could have gone to a good cause, litter - someone has to clear it up, all that plastic - going to landfill etc. Plus I like to see living plants with flowers on!

I hadn't thought about or known about the other issues.

I have always preferred potted plants to flowers, and will often choose a flowering plant if flowers are a suggested or preferred gift (hospital visit, Grand/Mothers Day).

I tend to equate fresh flowers with dead flowers, kinda like stale chocolate or a stuffed animal...

...like... not the real thing. Not many folks understand that though when I try to explain it...

I agree with you, Boots.
Plus a bunch of flowers - does it mean "...it'll be dead in a week, sooner if you leave out the chemical feed. This is what i think of you."????
As Boots points out, you wouldn't give out-of-date chocolate as a gift. Potted plants are something the recipient can nuture and grow and hopefully get pleasure from throughout the plant's life.

When Dad died in March, we requested donations for the MacMillan and Iain Rennie nurses who looked after him at home during his last spell here, instead of flowers. If Mum hadn't had those folk to help her, she wouldn't have been able to care for him at home, and the money helps to fund the nurses to look after other terminal patients, so they too can die in dignity in their own homes, surrounded by those who love them. They were also a great personal comfort to Mum.

Anyway, the thought of folk spending thousands on funeral wreaths, only to see them die within a few days and get chucked in the crematorium compost heap - nah.

I'm no fan of cut flowers either - always preferred living plants. As a child I bought christmas presents for several elderly neighbours & I remember a lady's daughter telling my mum how much pleasure her mum had got from the plant I'd bought her.

I discovered the evils of the cut flower industry some time ago, read it somewhere, & it just gave me a justification for my instinctive dislike.

Back when I was doing farm technology at TAFE, the teacher made a point that when buying land steer away from old cut flower farms becasue of the pesticide loading. Verb. Sap. very!

Nev

At the end of the school year, one of my guitar students gave me a bunch of cut flowers - roses that she had picked from her own garden. It was absolutely the nicest thing she could possibly have given me and I was delighted.

In defence of cut flowers; I can bear testimony to the dramatic and positive effect that they can have upon certain members of society. They can be an indespensible tool in smoothing or enhancing interpersonal relationships.

Just make sure they are not the cheap, horrible ones on the garage forecourt that you hastily decide might be a good idea - the scent of petrol tends to detract.

I knew I was missing something. That must be where I'm going wrong.
... Just Not kissin enough cheeks!

I do love having flowers in the house, and I'm terrible with houseplants, but flowers picked from the garden, or even flowering weeds (of which I normally have many) are just as nice as a bunch of shop bought ones, and loads cheaper.