Romeos romance with red roses

Rahenna Jolley of Rock Valley surrounded by roses at the Alstonville Florist in preparation for Valentine’s Day.

Cathy Adams

WHEN it comes to flowers, roses may well be the most romantic.

"(Roses) are always related to romance and love. They're just that flower that conveys passion. The white roses convey love and simplicity," Alstonville Florist co-owner Kerry Thomson said.

"For someone who's wanting to convey to a friend, 'You're special to me but it's not romantic,' a yellow rose is perfect."

Last week Ms Thomson's business partner, Mark Pampling, was preparing roses for Valentine's Day. He said it was important for people to choose the right colour.

"Yellow means friendship but it also means jealousy. Once, I had a customer who sent yellow roses and he meant them to mean friendship and his girlfriend took them to mean jealousy. She refused to accept them," he recalled.

The florist is expecting to sell about 2000 roses today.

"Valentine's Day is the busiest day of the year. I've had to put five extra staff on," Ms Thomson said.

Alstonville Florist staff wanted to "get creative" this Valentine's Day and have enclosed romantic messages in balloons for loved ones. However, Ms Thomson said flowers were still the most popular Valentine's Day gift.

"Women want to receive flowers. Nothing says 'I love you' like a gift of flowers," she said.

"We were asked to provide petals for a guy who filled a house so that when his wife got home it was all through the hallway and on the table. He had a table set up with champagne," Alstonville Florist manager Alison Elford said.

Ms Thomson said getting the right gift was worthwhile.

"A young chap came in a few years ago and was going to propose. He came to us to buy flowers and we suggested he buy lilies and it worked. Now they're engaged," she said.