It's Not Just Red Roses Anymore

So, you’ve decided to buy red roses for your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day. Get ready to shell out up to $80 a dozen.

If price is no object, and you want red roses and nothing else, go for it. But don’t wait until the afternoon before Feb. 14. You might be out of luck in Barrington. Or anywhere else as well.

Red roses will probably always be man’s favorite gift to his wife or girlfriend on Valentine’s Day. But roses are costly, they’ve been cut weeks ago in California, Holland, Hawaii or South America and shipped to wholesalers in Rhode Island, and they don’t last as long as many other flowers.

What to do?

There are alternatives, said all four florists in Barrington.

“You can still get some roses, but do a mixture of flowers instead,” said Kathy Luther of Wild Flower Florist and Garden Center on Waseca Avenue. “They’ll last twice as long for about $65, and you’ll still make her day.”

Luther will bundles roses, orchids, lilies, fuji mums, wax and some thistle for you. Your significant other will get to enjoy them for two weeks or longer if she is diligent about watering and caring for them.

If you still want roses, make sure you get “a good grade of flower,” said Lois Coppolino at Daisy Dig’ins Florist and Gifts on Maple Avenue. “The higher the grade, the longer they last.”

Pre-arranged cut flowers are a great substitute, Coppolino said, “but remember, it’s all about the presentation.”

Coppolino will put together lilies, gerber daisies, snap dragons, iris, hydrangeas, and almost any flowers in stock into an arrangement that starts at about $50, she said. And they will last a couple of weeks.

Debby Wajda and Cherie Lafayette at Flowers Galore N’ more on Maple Avenue like to assemble sun flowers, carnations, tulips and gerber daisies into nice arrangements.

But if you’re still stuck on giving roses, why not try different color roses? They’re $10 to $15 a dozen cheaper, Wajda said, and you can pick from a lot of colors: yellow, orange, purple, gold, and champagne.

“They look great in a box, too,” said Wajda. “You don’t have to buy a vase, which will add to the price.”

Phil Judge Florist on Primrose Hill Road may have the least expensive roses in town, said Helen Judge and her sister, June Ververis.

“We try to keep the prices as low as possible,” said Judge, usually $65 for red and $55 for other colors.

But the two women agreed that a mixed flower arrangement is a great alternative to roses because it will last longer and its less costly. They usually bundle carnations, chrysanthemums, lilies, and some roses into a heart-shaped vase or any other vase you want.

“It used to be just red roses on Valentine’s Day,” said Judge. “Not anymore.”