May 13, 2005

Organic Flowers a HitSource: USA Today

No pesticides, no chemicals; is your head spinning from disbelief yet? Within the last decade, people have become more and more interesting in organic materials – food, medicines, body products and now plant material.

“U.S. sales of organic flowers were $8 million in 2003, an estimated 52-percent growth spurt over the previous year, according to the Organic Trade Association, while sales of organic flowers are expected to blossom 13 percent annually through 2008,” stated a recent article in USA Today.

Even though organics look and smell the same as chemically treated flowers, people assume they are better because chemicals aren’t used; however, according to the article, there is no hardcore evidence that is the case.

“But they are better for the environment and especially for the tens of thousands of workers, mostly young women, who work in floral greenhouses in Central and South America, says Martha Olson Jarocki of the Pesticide Action Network. ‘Flowers are such a high-value crop that it takes a huge amount of pesticides to make them perfect,’ she says,” stated USA Today.

“The organic flower industry is still in the seedling stage”¦ But more and more flowers are coming into the organic fold every year. ‘We’ll sell 10,000 organic bouquets in the next two days [for Mother’s Day],’ says Gerald Prolman, who founded OrganicBouquet.com in Mill Valley, Calif., five years ago,” said the article.