Why Buy Local Flowers
Tova Cotton’s Emily and Karin at the Mineral Farmers Market.
80% of cut flowers are imported.
Most of the cut flowers here in the US are grown in South America. With such a long way to travel the flowers are already a week + old when they arrive in the store.
They tend to be doused in a variety of harmful herbicides and pesticides, chemicals that are not safe in your home.
These imported flowers use a tremendous amount of the Earth’s resources-water, fossil fuels- and create huge amounts of emissions, because they have to be flown and trucked thousands of miles.
Imported flowers are flown in, mostly from South America. And then trucked all over the country.
Most of the flowers you buy at the grocery store or even your local florist were not grown in the US or even North America.
They were harvested by a laborer in South America, who likely did not have adequate protection against the pesticides that were sprayed on the flowers.
The flowers are then shipped at near freezing temperatures in refrigerated planes to the United States. They are then distributed all over the country by freight trucks.
The flowers are shipped dry, they are not in water for this entire trip, taking an incredible toll on them. They are only rehydrated when they reach their destination.
A row of just harvested blooms in the sunrise, ready to go to Mineral Farmers Market. Farmer Karin is in the middle right.
In contrast, Tova Cotton flowers are harvested within days, and sometimes hours, of you receiving them. We harvest our organically grown blooms, put them into fresh cool water, let them rest, and then get them out the door to you.
All of our blooms are sold within an hour of our farm, minimizing fossil fuel usage, and time spent in transport.
We have strict quality standards, we only sell our freshest blooms, even when that means donating or composting blooms that still look great but won’t have optimal vase life.
This is why we guarantee our flowers for a week and so many of our customers tell us that they often last for two weeks! Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. We’re here to help!
