Valentine’s Day is incomplete without gifting your lady love a bunch of fully bloomed and fragrant red roses with a special message in it. But every year, the cost of one stem has been steadily increasing from Rs 40 to over Rs 1,500 throughout the week, depending upon the quality and demand in the market.
The florists at Defence Colony and Jor Bagh markets are buying a bunch of 20 roses for over Rs 250 from the Ghazipur phoolmandi and selling it for over Rs 60 to Rs 100 per stem. “The prices of the roses fluctuate every half an hour as per the demand and supply. Most of the flower agriculturists and traders sell flowers in limited quantity and release all their stock a day before Valentine’s Day to cash on the demand. We get over 40 to 50 pre-orders a week in advance,” florist Prem Sharma says.
Pawan Gedia, CEO, online and retail, Ferns N Petals, says that thought the demand for roses are going to be high, every year the prices of normal roses are between Rs 50 to Rs 120 per stem. “Every year during Valentine’s week, the prices of the roses are always the same depending upon the variety of roses. A customer can buy supreme quality roses or ordinary roses and the kind of packaging that is required. On a normal day a rose which is sold for Rs 20 goes up to Rs 50 to Rs 100 per stem. It’s not going to be as expensive as any other previous Valentine’s,” he says.
This year, they are selling a special rare rose called Forever Rose that will cost you around Rs 1,200- Rs 1,500 per stem. “We have introduced this variety, which is a single fully blossomed rose, with a shelf life of one year at least. We have imported this from Columbia. They beautifully dyed it in rainbow colours or single colour as well. You just have to place it in a cool place; the good this is there is no need to add water,” Gedia says.
The other services that the company is providing include message in a bottle, seven day flowers in a row, guitarist playing a song along with giving the flower, midnight delivery of flower and much more.