Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue. If You Love Flowers, Thank A Pollinator Or Two

What do you think of when you think of Valentines Day? If you’re like us, you think of roses. With roughly 250 million roses grown for Valentines Day each year, we think it’s fair to say most people think of roses. Why roses, when there are so many beautiful flowers to choose from? Roses have come to symbolize many things: purity, innocence, and gratitude. Red roses the most popular rose on Valentines Day have come to symbolize romantic love, passion and devotion.

Roses are pollinated by bees in addition to other pollinators. They do this by transferring pollen from the male parts of a rose to the female parts, which help the plant to reproduce.

The majority of roses grown for Valentines Day come from Columbia and Ecuador. These flowers are grown in unheated hoop houses. The long warm days and cool evenings provide the perfect growing temperature. There are about 130 native bee species found in both countries.

So, if you love getting roses on Valentines Day and beyond, say thank you to the hardworking bees of Ecuador and Columbia.

Love and Bees. Its a Real Thing!

Did you know that St Valentine is the Patron Saint of love and BEEKEEPERS? Yup, love and beekeeping!

Back in Roman times and still to this day, bees are a symbol of romantic love.

For such a happy and sweet filled day, the history of how Valentines Day came to bee is a lot darker.

It is believed that Valentine’s Day originated from Lupercalia, an ancient Roman Festival. Lupercalia, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus the Roman God of agriculture. We won’t get into how this was celebrated (it’s kind of morbid and distressing) but if you’re interested you should totally check it out (don’t say you weren’t warned).

As Christianity took over, it began incorporating Pagan holidays into their own celebrations. This is exactly what happened to Lupercalia. St Valentine, was a priest and beekeeper. Known for treating his bees with love and compassion. Valentine, defied the Roman Emperor Claudius 11 by secretly marrying couples. This really angered Claudius and he had Valentine tortured and decapitated on February 14th

To honor St Valentine, the Church began calling Lupercalia, Valentines Day

It wasn’t until the Middle Ages when the idea of courtly love became popular that Valentines Day started to become a thing amongst lovers.

Crazy to think that a day that started with an execution is now the Universal day of love.