Rose remains the favorite flower of lovers celebrating Valentine’s Day. In Metro Manila, people flock to the Dangwa Flower Market in Sampaloc district to buy roses, which cost around P700 to P800 per dozen, definitely much cheaper than tulip, which costs about P3,500 per dozen. According to Dangwa vendors, it’s easy to prolong the freshness of cut roses — just don’t expose them to heat and too much air. Major growers of roses in the Philippines can be found in the provinces of Benguet, Cavite, Batangas, and Tagaytay City in Luzon; Cebu, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental in the Visayas; and in Davao City in Mindanao. There are at least eight varieties of roses grown commercially in the Philippines. These are Red Success, Mercedes, Golden Times, Texas, White Liberty, Jacaranda, Raphaela, and Athena.
Cut roses There are more than a hundred species of roses worldwide. Aside from their ornamental use, roses, which are rich in vitamin C, could also be eaten. They could be made into hip syrup, marmalade, jam, jelly, and herbal tea.
Based on government data, the Philippines produced 22,671 metric tons (mt) of cut flowers in 2003, planted on 1,586 hectares of land. Production of cut roses stood at 2,860 mt planted on 245 has., which is second only to cut chrysanthemum, of which 10,610 mt were harvested from 337 has. The Philippine Information Agency cited a report from the Department of Agriculture (DA) that cut flowers from the Philippines are mainly exported to Japan, Korea, Canada, and the United States. The DA said that in recent years, export of Philippine cut flowers has expanded to Singapore, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Guam, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and Denmark. The agency said that in 2006, Hong Kong, which imported a total of 225 mt, was the top market for Philippine cut flowers. In 2007, The Netherlands and Japan were the top importers of Philippine cut flowers, with 37.78 mt, and 12.93 mt respectively.
- GMANews.TV 
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