Falling head over heels for reliable roses

Tons of blooms are heading our way for Valentine's Day, but growing your own will give your heart a lift

- With DIARMUID GAVIN

With Valentine's Day around the corner, supermarkets and florists will be selling huge quantities of flowers.

Around 570 tons of roses are imported into the UK in February - most from Kenya and Colombia with the remaining 20% arriving directly from Holland.

With the rise in energy costs, the price of producing bouquet-perfect roses has spiked. They need to be grown in regulated conditions, requiring water, temperature control and chemicals, then flown across the world. This raises environmental concerns and it is extra frustrating as we can grow roses so well in these islands, just not in time for February 14.