A rose is a rose...

The roses on Valentine day could just get a bit costlier. Thanks to the warm weather in winter, during the prime ‘rose growing’ season in Pune and Bangalore, has led to roses blooming earlier than normal. Roses which were to blossom just before valentine day are scheduled to bloom by 21st Jan, five days before ahead of time.

A week before Valentine day, roses fetch the maximum value, prices going up to Rs.10/stem in the wholesale market compared with Rs 2-4 on an average day. In FY12, India exported about Rs 320 crore worth of flowers, half of which were roses.

Rose cultivators say that roses take around 45-50 days to grow and pruning begins by the first week of December, giving a good crop by January 26. And once harvested, till 14th Feb, beginning from 26th Jan, roses are stored in cold rooms and then shipped to Amsterdam. And if roses bloom by 21st Jan, naturally, they might not be fresh till Valentine day and might be rejected by exporters.

And to think that roses are used to denote something as simple and sublime like love. So much complication to simply profess this feeling? If not roses, why not any other flower, which is in season and cheaper? After all, the feeling will not change if the flower changes, right?