For your mother or the mother of your children. For your dearest neighbour or your co-worker crush. For your special anniversary or your most special friend. Whomever you give a Valentine’s bouquet: flowers symbolise the love you feel for that person. Way less romantic is the fact that most often pesticides are used to help plants and flowers grow. bloomon wants to show you where your bouquet comes from. That’s why we regularly test our flowers on prohibited substances. In the name of love, for people and the planet.

Nothing to hide

bloomon randomly test 4 flowers every two weeks on the use of prohibited pesticides. We conduct a leaf residue test in a laboratory. We also call this a ‘pulp-test’ because we grind the leaves to a pulp. Subsequently, we qualify the flowers by the MPS-standards and our own, even stricter, list. The laboratory is very accurate and able to detect substances used in the past ten years. This allows us to see if all the flowers comply to the regulations. Flowers that get a negative score are removed from the collection. We also reach out to the growers immediately. We then look for a last-minute alternative that does comply to our quality standards.

Christmas 2020: highlights and points to improve

This past December was the first time that we offered nine different Christmas bouquets. The year before, we had six variations. After we received the bouquets, they were sent to the laboratory. Unfortunately, in two bouquets the protective substance Methamidophos* was found. We did find Acefate and Thiabendasol. We prefer not to have these in our bouquets. However, we did find fewer substances than prior years - even when offering more bouquets - so we’re nearly there. The research stimulates us to monitor our check-ups, stay in close contact with our growers, and more often, preventively test our bouquets.

Made with love: the Mono ‘Rose’

This is why for Valentine’s 2021, we checked more of our flowers beforehand. Our research led to replacing some products. We even had to change the design of the Mono Rose up to three times. A lot of time and effort has gone into creating this bouquet because we frequently check in with our growers. The result is one to love: a bouquet with 100% Dutch roses without any prohibited preservatives.

Order the Mono ‘Rose’?

The Valentine’s bouquets are available to order now via Valentines Day Flowers. Delivery on Valentine’s Day is possible for a surcharge. We hope that your loved one or you - because nothing beats self-care - will enjoy the flowers to the fullest. In the meantime, we will continue our sustainable journey. We have open communication lines with our growers and are continually researching where we can make the process more sustainable. The goal? Making the sector sustainable, one flower at a time. We’ll keep you in the loop on our all findings, the high, lows and everything in between. No roses without thorns, right?