Roses don't have to be red. Here are some alternative gifts for St Valentine's Day, writes JANE POWERS

MONDAY IS A day that some people look forward to with trepidation. If the appropriate floral proofs of affection are not produced, it’s the dog house for the rest of the day (or more likely, the week). Yet, the cut flower industry is not an entirely salubrious one. In many cases, there are unfair workers’ conditions, indiscriminate use of hazardous chemicals, and drastic environmental damage – not to mention the thousands of air miles attached to each perfect rose. So, if you find this troubling, and feel like straying from the current St Valentine’s Day convention, here are a dozen alternatives to a dozen red roses.

1. It’s obvious, but why not give living roses instead? Mr Middleton’s “Bowl of Perfumed Roses” offer is a collection of five different scented rose bushes from British breeder David Austin. All the varieties are naturally disease-resistant and repeat flowering. They cost €49.95 at Mr Middleton shop, 58 Mary Street, Dublin 1 (01-8603674; mrmiddleton.com).

2. Lily bulbs are in garden centres now, and can be planted immediately. If your loved one’s garden is sluggy or snaily, then plant the bulbs in large pots instead of directly into the soil. In the Victorian language of flowers, white lilies mean beauty, purity and modesty.

3. Myrtle symbolises a happy marriage, and has been traditionally included in British royal wedding bouquets since Victoria married her first cousin Albert in 1840. If you’re planning on popping the question with your Valentine offering, why not signify your good intentions with a myrtle bush (Luma apiculata)?

4. Chocolate is a delicious gift (and is almost virtuous when it is Fairtrade), but it does pile on the pounds. A low-fat Valentine’s alternative is the deep maroon, velvety-petalled, chocolate-scented cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguineus) from Mexico, which blooms in late summer. Tubers are available from Mr Middleton and in good garden centres.

5. Partners of dominant women might like to respectfully offer their Madam Bossy Boots a rosemary or parsley plant: both herbs are traditionally said to thrive only where the woman wears the trousers.

6. In times past, the tomato was known as the love apple, thanks to a chain of misspellings arising from the original Italian name (pomo dei mori, meaning apple of the Moors). A simple packet of tomato seeds may seem a bit of a cop out, so you would need to accompany it with something beautiful, such as a carefully hand-lettered poem. Google “best love poems”, and you’ll find dozens, or better still, write your own, with help from an online rhyming dictionary (rhymezone.com).

7. White flowers are associated with purity, and were the main ingredient in wedding bouquets until recently, when blooms of each and every colour under the sun replaced them. The fact that ivory-coloured flowers looked good in black-and-white photos helped keep them in fashion. Lily of the Valley featured regularly in bridal arrangements. In the language of flowers it means sweetness, humility and the return of happiness (as well as tears of the Virgin Mary – but we’ll gloss over that today). The roots of the plants (known as crowns) are available from Mr Middleton, and will flower in May.

8. For a delayed Valentine’s message (it should appear within a week at most), fill a seed tray with compost and spell out “I love you” or “Marry me” (or other appropriate words) in mustard or cress seeds. In a few days, your words will appear in a flush of fresh green seedlings. Be really careful about stray seeds, or your message could be illegible, or worse, convey something unintentional such as “I love voles” or “Marv + me” – which might need some explaining.

9. Pansies are dedicated to St Valentine, which accounts for its common names Johnny-jump-up-and-kiss-me, cupid’s flower, love-in-idleness and others of the same theme. The true pansy is the little Viola tricolor, but at this time of the year, a case could be made for any of the violets or pansies available at your local garden centre.

10. If your man is backward about coming forward, then the globe artichoke may be the plant for him. Since Roman times they were reputed to have aphrodisiac properties. According to Andrew Boorde, the 16th century English physician, they “dothe provoke a man to veneryous acts”.

11. There are dozens of other garden plants that have folkloric reputations as aphrodisiacs. Among them are: garlic (imagine!), potato (ditto), cyclamen, chilli pepper, coriander, mint, lovage, lettuce, walnut and the shrub Deutzia gracilis.

The shy and delicate woodlander, Epimedium, enjoys the common name of horny goat weed, for obvious reasons.

12. Finally, if your loved one must have cut flowers, then why not choose ethically-sourced ones? Fair Flowers Fair Plants (FFP) is an international organisation that sets and monitors standards for the flower trade regarding worker conditions and the environment (fairflowersfairplants.com).

In Ireland, FFP flowers and plants are available through Eamonn Grant’s online flower business, flowersmadeeasy.ie

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