Don't Send Me Flowers

The florist industry makes millions of dollars every year. From a horticultural perspective it is quite a bizarre phenomenon.

Consider these 2 facts: A) A flower is a plant sex organ. B) As soon as you cut a flower from the plant it begins to die.

Aside from the fact that it seems a bit strange to give, for instance, your mother, dying sex organs, doesn't it make more sense to give a living growing plant? The beauty of flowers is that they are not only beautiful, but living, and in being able to watch them grow and bloom.

What does one do with cut flowers? Usually, take them home, put them in a vase, and watch them die. Think about it. They may look good for a day or two, but after that, they begin to fade, and most people watch them till they are completely dry and brown. Is it not rather morbid to send someone who is sick in the hospital, something that is dying? Cut flowers are dying. A whole plant is living and growing.

It makes no sense to me why anyone would spend $50-$100 or more for a dozen cut roses, when for a fraction of that you can buy a rose bush that will live and grow and bloom for many years, and give you many times a dozen roses. Personally, I would much rather watch them live, than to watch them die.

Its even worse that when many people do actually recieve a living plant, as soom as the blooms fade, they throw it away, or worse, watch it dry out and completely die first, and then toss it. What is it with these people. Are they so used to watching flowers die that they don't know how to do anything else? Do they enjoy watching things die? Each year hundreds of thousands of potted mums are tossed, with no thought that they can produce many, many more blooms, for years to come. Why?

At florists now, you can buy a pot of blooming tulips, or daffodils for $20. For $2 you can plant the bulbs yourself, and enjoy watching them grow. Most people who buy the $20 will toss them in a week. What a waste!! those same bulbs could bloom for years, and produce more bulbs! Are these people stupid or do they just not care? Or do they just have so much money it doesn't matter to them?

The florist industry has become so accustomed to this senseless trend, that they, as almost a mockery of horticulture, now even sell blooming cuttings, in planting medium, with no roots, to look like a plant, but they last no longer than the blooms, and many people don't even know the difference! My mother recently recieved What she thought was a nice azalea, loaded with blooms. She of course, was going to plant it. When she started to remove the pot, she discovered that it was nothing more than a cutting, without a single root, never intended to do any more than look pretty for a few days. I'm sure the sender paid much more than she would have for a real one from a nursery. She probably didn't know it wasn't a "real" plant, and my mother never said anything. I guess most people never know the difference. What a shame!

I just don't understand the attitude of so many people toward flowers, and plants. If I want flowers in my house, I bring in a plant. I don't cut off its sex organs to watch them die. Flowers are beautiful things, but that is no reason to kill them. Occasionally, I'll discover a child in my yard, "picking flowers for mother" I always explain that when you pick them they die, and send them home with a plant, (roots and all) for their mother. Everyone is happy, and they don't pick any more of my flowers. I prefer to watch my flowers live, not die. Sometimes I have to explain this to adults too, although children listen much better.

There are laws agaist cruelty to animals, but plants are living things too, and many people have no reguard whatsoever for plant life. They are often treated as inanimate objects. Animals can run when in danger. a plant cannot.

I love plants (some say I'm obsessed) but Please, don't send me flowers! (Unless, of course, they are still attached to the plant.)

No, you cannot pick my flowers!

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