Want to say it with flowers? Here are my top tips
Visit your local florist and take your pick of loose blooms in buckets. Orchids or other big exotic tropical blooms are well worth considering as an alternative to a ready-made bouquet of red roses.
Instead of a single bunch of flowers on the big day, sign up for a service that sends a bouquet every month for a year (see www.interflora.co.uk).
Pot plants make a good alternative to cut flowers as they last a lot longer – a big plus point with ecologically minded recipients. Choose something showy – phalaenopsis (moth orchid) is a firm favourite. Sometimes spotted or striped, it comes in cream, white and yellow, as well as various shades of pink, from pale to raspberry. Miniature moth orchids, about six inches tall, are also charming, and cheap enough to make your own display, with several plunged in water to the rims of their pots in a pretty bowl filled with moss. Other good alternatives include anthurium, which has vaguely heart-shaped leaves and flowers (big and bright red, which are actually bracts), or gardenia, which has superbly scented white flowers that will be out now.
When you really want to show a garden- lover you care, choose something that will give them long-lasting enjoyment, such as their favourite hard-to-find shrub (you can locate this via the RHS Plant Finder, either the printed book version or online at www.rhs.org.uk). Depending on your budget, you could treat them to anything from a cold frame to a top-of-the-range, stainless-steel gardening implement, ready-to-assemble wooden potting bench, tiered staging for conservatory plant displays, or even a little lean-to greenhouse.
If they love visiting gardens, a picnic hamper, rug, folding seats, camping stove and thermos jugs always turn it into more of an outing. Better still, make an occasion of it by booking a Valentine’s lunch at the eatery of your favourite garden centre with an afternoon’s shopping thrown in.
Consider annual membership of the RHS or National Trust, or tickets for Chelsea or another big flower show (buy online at www.rhs.org.uk). Or how about a weekend gardening course or short holiday (a visit to the Dutch bulb fields perhaps)? Present the details on the day in a decorated envelope – accompanied by flowers, of course.
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