I think it goes without saying that for Valentine’s Day everyone always goes for roses…or carnations. The one flower i hate the most. I’ve worked at a flower shop for almost 5 years, and people still try to give their significant other carnations and roses. Now, I love roses, they’re one of my favorite flowers, but carnations, that’s a different story.
Carnations have a lot of symbolism behind them, going back to ancient Greece. They mean love and good luck and even every individual color represents something. However, carnations are ugly, break super easy and smell the nastiest when in water. Most flowers you can leave in water for a while before the water starts smelling bad. Carnations usually start smelling up a place after a day or two. On top of that they look and feel so cheap. They just feel like a copout. I understand if they’re someone’s favorite flower (although I don’t know why they would be), but there are so many other flowers out there that are way more beautiful.
No one actually gets carnations for the symbolism, let’s get that out of the way before someone complains that “oh but the meaning is so beautiful.”
I’ve been working with flowers for almost a quarter of my life and I can genuinely say that carnations SHOULD NOT BE A VALENTINES DAY FLOWER. There are so flowers you could get. Roses are obvious, orchids are beautiful, gerberas are gorgeous and super soft and come in so many nice colors, sunflowers are just a nice flower on their own, lilies are gorgeous as well. There are some that are beautiful but unfortunately are just out of season such as tulips and peonies. But always keep in mind that there are other options, and if you go to a good flower shop just let the designers do their thing. Give them a somewhat basic description of what you want and just trust them. If they’re really good they will make something beautiful for you. Also keep in mind that if you want good flowers it’s not gonna be necessarily cheap. However, always keep these tips in mind when buying flowers.