Buying a bouquet for your Valentine? Reserve now, say Dangwa’s flower sellers

You might be planning a trip to Dangwa on Valentine's Day to buy your sweetheart a bouquet, but it would be a good idea to reserve your roses now to take advantage of current prices before they spike on the day of love, said the sellers in Sampaloc's famous flower market.

"Sa ngayon pa lang, magpa-reserve na sila," said flower vendor Baby Cordova in a report by Tina Panganiban-Perez on "Saksi." "Para kung anuman ang maging price sa Valentine's, hindi na magbabago yung presyo natin ngayon."



As of last Friday, the prices for roses in Dangwa are as follows:

Red long-stemmed roses - P300 to P350 per dozen
Yellow long-stemmed roses - P350 to P400 per dozen
Short-stemmed roses - P200 to P250 per dozen
Imported paper roses - P350 for 5 pieces, P750 per dozen
Imported cabbage roses - P350 each

Carnations are currently going for P200 a dozen for local blooms and P250 for imported.

Malaysian mums cost P100 per dozen, or P250 to P300 if they are in a bouquet with sunflowers.

Sunflowers are going for P1,000 per bouquet. Per flower, they are selling for P60 to 80 for a small bloom, P100 for a medium-sized one and P120 for an extra-large.

Snapdragons and stargazers both go for P150 per dozen. Alstroemeria are only P50 a dozen. An assorted bouquet of all three will go for P100, and an arrangement will cost P400.

The hot weather will bring in the blooms for flower producers; expect an increase in production and a lowering of prices if the warm weather continues.

"Talagang ang pag-init na ito, blessing sa farmers kasi nakakabuka yung bulaklak," said appropriately named seller Nene Pamulaklakin.

Any rollback will have to wait until after Valentine's Day, though, as the prices will definitely go up on Friday, in some cases by as much as 100 percent. — BM, GMA News