Flowers are expensive because they are usually not grown at places where they are admired. Most of the time, they are imported into a country by wholesalers and immediately distributed through its retail networks. Shipping fresh flowers is a time bound, every day business, requiring much planning, judgement, impeccable resource management.

Flowers grown by farm owners are plucked at an appropriate time by specialist gardeners and horticulturists and immediately the stem is capped into small bottles containing a mixture of water and flower food. They are then moved in properly ventilated card board boxes, duly packed in a way that each flower is able to breath properly and kept at cold places (not ice cold) so that the flowers do no dehydrate.

Each box is properly marked for details of the flowers, destination, certification that the flowers are germ free and will not cause harm to local flora and fauna of the destination country, insured for all sorts of damage en route, before the courier company picks them up. It is carefully observed that the transportation vehicle is air-conditioned (most of the time) and that the custom clearance time at airports is barest minimum. Time is of essence when it comes to transporting or exporting fresh flowers.

Once it arrives at the destination, these are delivered to various retailers via high-speed trucks and other specialized vehicles. Retailers are, most of the time, ready with the list of people who demand such flowers, so the wait time in a retailer’s warehouse or store is almost negligible. It is, only then, one finds that exotic orchid blooms just about time its placed in the vase in your living room.