Why Fresh Matters for Flowers

Choosing responsible floral arrangements means considering where and how they were grown. 

Who doesn’t love a bouquet of fresh flowers? Their vibrant colours and delicate smells have the power to light up an entire room and bring instant joy to all those who see them. Yet with all of the emphasis placed on buying local and organic food, flowers often get overlooked. Despite that they go in a vase and not on your plate, the origins and environmental impact of flowers are just as important. 

Why Choose Fresh Local Blooms?

Where flowers are grown and how far they travel makes a big difference. Not only can it impact their freshness, scent, and length of life, but it’s also important when considering their carbon footprint. Flowers take a huge environmental toll; from the water used to grow the seeds, to the energy needed to warm the greenhouse, to the fuel required to transport them. 

Considering that nearly 80 percent of flowers available for purchase are grown thousands of kilometres away, most likely in Colombia, Ecuador, Thailand, or Kenya, choosing locally-grown flowers has a direct impact. Indeed, many other countries do not have adequate environmental or labor regulations and the kinds of commercial flowers they produce are bred for travel. That means they tend to lose the more romantic qualities of garden flowers, including their scent. Not only that, when you inevitably put your nose into a bouquet for a good smell, you’re likely breathing in the chemicals they’ve been sprayed with. Unless your flowers are organic, the chemicals used to grow them are not regulated.

Local, organic flowers offer a beautiful, sustainable, feel-good alternative. Small farms work hard to grow sustainable blooms – they rarely waste water or generate heaps of plastic waste, and they use the seasons and the elements to their advantage. Small, local flower growers also tend to produce a huge diversity of colours and types of flowers. They’re beautiful, natural, and bursting with those whimsical floral aromas we love. They even help the local bees, butterflies, and birds which then pollinate the nearby food crops and support the entire ecosystem. Best of all, local flowers are usually picked the day you get your bouquet. Just like here, at Hastings House, where our gardeners arrange a fresh bouquet of flowers grown right on our own property for each new guest’s arrival. 

It’s the smallest details that make the biggest difference. On your next visit, make sure you take the time to smell your in-room bouquet of fresh, local, organic flowers. Then let us know if you notice a difference.