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The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers
Algonquin Books
January 2007
On Sale: January 4, 2007
306 pages
ISBN: 1565124383
EAN: 9781565124387
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
We buy more flowers a year than we do Big Macs, spending
$6.2 billion annually. We use them to mark our most
important events, to express sentiments that might otherwise
go unsaid. And we demand perfection. So it’s no surprise
that there is a $40 billion global industry devoted to
making flowers flawless. Amy Stewart takes us inside the flower trade—from the
hybridizers, who create new varieties in the laboratory, to
the growers, who produce flowers by the millions (often in a
factory-like setting), to the Dutch auctioneers, who set the
bar (and the price), and ultimately to the neighborhood
florists orchestrating the mind-boggling demands of
Valentine’s and Mother’s Day. There’s the breeder intent on
developing the first blue rose; an eccentric horticultural
legend who created the world’s most popular lily; a grower
of gerberas of every color imaginable; and the equivalent of
a Tiffany diamond: the “ Forever Young” rose. Stewart explores the relevance of flowers in our lives and
in our history, and in the process she reveals all that has
been gained—and lost—by tinkering with nature.
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