Have you ever brought home a bouquet of flowers, buried your nose in the blooms, and wondered where they came from?

Most of us don’t.

Flowers are one of life’s simple pleasures. We buy them to celebrate, to comfort, to decorate a table, or simply because they make us smile.

Most of us wouldn’t buy food without knowing something about where it came from. Yet we rarely ask questions about our flowers.

Did you know that many flowers sold in supermarkets and flower shops have travelled thousands of kilometres before reaching a vase, often farther than many of us travel on vacation?

To survive those journeys, growers and wholesalers choose varieties that can withstand shipping and refrigeration over fragrance, uniqueness, and character.

On top of that, helping flowers arrive looking as though they have just been harvested after days of storage and transport often requires significant quantities of fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides. In fact, some florists choose to wear gloves when handling imported flowers because chemical residues may remain on the stems and foliage.

It’s not exactly what comes to mind when you’re admiring a beautiful bouquet.

Why Local Flowers Matter

When you buy flowers from a local grower, you’re not just supporting a local small business. You’re choosing flowers that haven’t spent days in a box travelling across continents. You’re choosing flowers harvested at their peak, often with divine fragrance, better vase life, and a much smaller environmental footprint.

Questions Worth Asking

Who grew these flowers? How do they care for the land they grow on? What do they do to reduce waste and protect the environment? What values shape the way they grow, harvest, and design their flowers?

How We Grow and Design at Fleuris

At Fleuris Orchard & Blooms, we work with nature rather than against it. We dedicate a portion of our land to wildlife habitat, welcome beneficial insects into the garden, and continually replenish our soil through compost and regenerative growing practices.

And because we work with the rhythm of the seasons, our fresh flowers are available from April through October, when nature intended them to bloom.

Our commitment extends beyond the garden and into the studio. We harvest flowers specifically for each order to minimize waste, never used floral foam, and wrap our flowers in recyclable and compostable paper rather than cellophane. And when we source flowers from other growers, we choose farms that share our commitment to regenerative growing practices.

Flowers should bring beauty into the world, not create unnecessary harm along the way.

The next time you’re choosing flowers, don’t be afraid to ask questions.

The answers matter more than most people realize.

To learn more

• See our contribution to Slow Flowers an article on sustainable floristry in Boulevard Magazine.