It’s easy to think that as a florist because you are working with natural materials and beautiful things then you are eco-friendly but as I learn more about sustainability in the floral industry I’ve come to realise how wrong that can be.
From imported flowers to British grown flowers
When I started out as a trainee in a local flower shop and studied my city and guilds qualification at college all of the flowers we used were bought from the wholesalers who buy from Holland, as is the case with the majority of florists working in the UK. The flowers from Holland might not all be grown there (although some are), but the majority of flowers in UK and Europe pass through the huge Aalsmeer market where they are bought by wholesalers who sell onto florists.
Soon after starting my own business I started investigating buying British grown flowers and began cultivating my own small cutting garden to supplement the flowers I bought from Holland. Now I try to use 80-100% British grown flowers in my work depending on the season and the client.
Environmental factors
There is something very satisfying about growing your own flowers and foliage and creating a design entirely from what has grown from your patch or from other growers in your area. I have definitely noticed a difference in the number of pollinators in our garden since we converted sections of it for cut flowers and I think it makes a great habitat for all sorts of wild life. When you buy imported flowers they are, on the whole, grown commercially in tightly controlled mono cultures and have been treated with various chemicals such as bloom inhibitors, insecticides and fungicides before they reach your local florist.
Health Implications
When I buy from other growers and Flowers from the Farm members I know that the flowers are grown in a sustainable and environmentally conscious way without the use of pesticides and dangerous chemicals. Some of the countries that export flowers to Holland use chemicals that are not legal for use in the UK (or at least not in such concentrations). On a recent Sustaibable(ish) podcast a fellow Flowers from the Farm member, Sara Willman, referenced a really interesting study on the chemical residue on imported flowers and how this impacted florists who have prolonged contact with it. You can read more about the findings in this blog by Cumberland Flower Farm.
To summarise, an independent study asked 20 volunteer florists to wear gloves for 2-3 hours a day, working with the flowers they ‘normally’ use (imported). The gloves were taken to a lab afterwards and there were over 107 different chemical traces found on them (which would normally go straight onto the skin of the florists as most florists don’t wear gloves or ppe. The chemicals found included insecticides and fungicides that have hazardous chronic effects if you are exposed to them for any duration and the levels of these chemicals were 1000 times more concentrated than on food stuffs. Keep in mind that florists will be handling these sorts of materials day in day out.
Further studies show that these chemicals could then be traced in the urine of participants showing that the florists handling these materials were absorbing chemicals from the flowers into their bodies. This is very worrying, both for the florists handling the materials and the customer – I have seen many other florists and bakers put cut flower stems directly into a wedding cake. It also makes me question the effects on the workers at the flower farm who applied the chemicals involved onto the flowers in the first place, did they have adequate protective equipment and training? At the very least I feel the packaging of flowers treated with these chemicals should be labelled to warn florists of what they are handling.
Social Responsibility and Workers’ Rights
As with “fast fashion” over the years there have been articles criticising the working conditions of workers on flower farms abroad and this is one of the reasons I like to buy British flowers because I am confident that although the growers work very hard, those working on the flower plots are not being exploited. I cannot say that for all imported flowers. Although undoubtedly there are many very good flower farms around the world that do provide good local employment, follow environmentally sound practices and care for their workers, there may still be some that don’t.
Fair Trade Flowers?
Usually the packaging on the wraps of roses and other flowers from Kenya, Columbia, Ecuador etc don’t have much information on them particularly when compared with food or beauty products. I tried to talk to one of the wholesalers at the Glasgow hub about introducing fair trade or equivalent stickers so that florists could chose to buy products grown in a socially responsible way, but was given pretty short shrift. The company in question told me that everything was fair trade regardless of the country of origin and it wasn’t a problem any more but I am unconvinced.
Further Reading
During lockdown I have been reading Amy Stewart’s Flower Confidential which is a really interesting look behind the scenes at the flower industry and some of the points she makes about growing in these countries do make me uneasy. The low human rights records or working conditions for employees on the farms and their exposure to dangerous chemicals, the disposal of these chemicals and the use of valuable natural resources that could be used to support food production in those areas, fair access to water resources in those countries… I don’t know what the answer is but it does make me worry about what the human and environmental cost is of some of the beautiful flowers I have used in bouquets has been. When you are standing in a cooler full of gorgeous flowers at the market it is very easy to forget the story of those flowers that led them to be in front of you. I am not seeking to judge florists who buy imported flowers, I still use them when I have to but I think it is important to be more aware of the story of that flower and those involved in it’s journey before it arrives in the market.
Next in my series of sustainability blogs I will talk about the hugely popular trend for dyed and bleached flowers which is sweeping pinterest and instagram. If you’d like to talk about wedding flowers or funeral flowers take a look at my wedding flowers gallery, or my funeral flowers Instagram, or get in touch.