CARMEL- Regardless of your favorite “Roses are red” rhyme, one thing is for certain – a rose is the flower of love and today, area florists will be selling thousands of roses to husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends and significant others who want to show their love to that special person.
The Carmel Flower Shop at the Putnam Plaza has been gearing up for the big day all week.
“Valentine’s Day is our busiest single day of the year,” said Ed Galligan who with his sister Diane Farrell has been arranging floral arrangements non-stop for Valentine’s Day for the past 46 years. They are proprietors of the Carmel Flower Shop.
Diane likes to refer to the day as “dozens of years of getting lovers together.”
Back in 1980, a dozen roses cost $29. This year the price of love finds itself in the range of $100 for a dozen arranged petals.
Galligan estimated his business will sell more than 6,000 roses by day’s end upping his four decade total to nearly 400,000.
Galligan took a breather to chat about the Day for Lovers and several of his most unusual requests. One of his most memorable and moving came when an elderly gentleman stopped at the florist and purchased seven dozen roses. The man explained: “I’m by myself. My wife has passed on and I decided to give everyone in our nursing homes a rose on Valentine’s Day this year.”
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