Valentines roses: a labour of love

FOR most people Valentine’s Day is all about romance but for flower growers the Lee family it is one of their busiest times of the year.

The family run Tamar Valley Roses at Rosevears and this year marks their 47th year producing for Valentine’s Day.

The farm is run by siblings Andrew and Megan Lee.

“For the farm this is the busiest time of the year because we specialise in roses which is what Valentine’s Day is all about,” she said.

As well as their farm the family also run a retail outlet in the middle of Launceston.

Preparations for Valentine’s Day start months before as the family prepare their rose plants to produce blooms at the right time.

“We do a cut back a couple of weeks before Christmas where we do a very gentle prune,” Ms Lee said. 

“What that does is make sure we get a big flush of roses for Valentine’s Day so was can process quite a lot over a couple of weeks.” 

The roses are grown in environmentally controlled greenhouses which help to ensure consistent production. 

However, Ms Lee said sunshine is also important so the last few weeks of warm weather had been ideal. 

“You need bright sunshine and things, so this summer has been really good,” she said. The family and their team started picking roses for Valentine’s Day early last week.

Ms Lee said this was essential to ensure their flowers reach customers in time. 

“About 50 per cent of our production for Valentine’s Day goes interstate which includes up to places like Queensland,” she said. 

“In this case we sell to wholesalers who then sell to the florists who then sell to the end customers. “While in other aspects of the business we sell direct to the florists and, of course, we’ve got our shop as well.” 

Over the past couple of weeks, the family has produced more than 55,000 stems which includes about 26,000 red roses, 20,000 coloured roses and 9000 spray roses. 

On just one day last week they shipped out more than 540kg of roses bound for interstate customers. 

All the roses for interstate sales are transported by air freight to ensure they arrive on time. 

The family also sell their flowers to florists in Launceston and Hobart as well as the Hill Street stores across the state. 

While flower trends change quite regularly, Ms Lee said when it comes to Valentine’s Day red long stemmed roses are still the number one pick.

“Valentine’s Day is classically red roses so that is still definitely the most popular,” she said. “You have the odd person that doesn’t like red roses, but not very many.” 

Apart from Valentine’s Day, Ms Lee said the other very busy period for them is the lead up to Mother’s Day. 

“Mother’s Day now is actually huge, but we don’t do a specific f lush for Mother’s Day because it take a little while for the plants to get back into rhythm after this big f lush for Valentine’s Day,” she said. 

“It can be a bit tricky as well because Mother’s Day is just before winter really kicks in but it’s actually huge now. 

“It’s always really busy in the shop, even busier than Valentine’s Day and I think that’s because almost everyone has a mum, but not every one has a Valentine, so it’s quite fascinating.”

Ms Lee said during Covid lockdowns more people got used to sending flowers for Mother’s Day and that trend has continued. The family has about one hectare under hothouse production and the majority of their plants are roses. They regularly trial new varieties. 

“Because roses are a fashion thing you do then have to change because what was in fashion three years ago might not be popular now,” she said. “So, you have to update the colour and the variety. 

“Also there are always new varieties coming where it’s a better plant, less thorns and more longevity and better colour so it truly is a fashion thing because you have to keep up with the trends.” 

Ms Lee said their main variety of red roses was called Explorer and it had some distinct advantages. 

“It has no thorns so as a florist in the shop it’s fantastic,” she said. 

“It makes a big different even for the handling in the shed. 

“They’re thornless, they’re basically all the same length and head size because you want to put them in a bunch when they’re basically the same head opening."

“So, you want to have it all uniform and it’s a really good rose for that.”