The city of Chicago’s motto is “Urbs in Horto,” Latin for “City in a Garden.” The roots of Chicago’s floral industry run deep in its frigid soil. Conveniently positioned as a railroad hub in the middle of the US, the city was once a major supplier for roses and carnations across the country. Today, Chicago’s floral footprint is much smaller, with most commercial flowers imported from overseas.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, there seems no better time to think about where our flowers come from.
According to the USDA, the US imported cut flowers, plants, and nursery stock products worth 3.3 billion dollars from 81 countries in 2022. But the environmental cost of importing flowers is far greater than the economic cost. According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, Valentine’s Day flowers imported from Colombia to the US in 2018 produced 360,000 metric tons of CO2.
Some businesses are working to offer greater access to locally-grown, native Chicago flowers.
Chicago-native Cornelia McNamara is the owner and creative director of Cornelia McNamara Flowers. She runs an urban farm, Chicago Farm Flowers, where she grows flowers for sale locally. McNamara says waste is a major issue for the industry.
CORNELIA MCNAMARA: If I had to guess, at least 15% of the flowers, if not 30% or even more of the flowers that come into Chicago alone, end up just rotting before they’re sold.
McNamara was inspired to enter the industry after watching her mom work at Green Inc., a flower store that has been serving Chicago since 1973. She started in New York City, shopping at wholesale flower markets selling some of the highest quality flowers in the world. Moving to Chicago was an adjustment that inspired the farm.
MCNAMARA: Chicago is historically known to be a dumping ground for the worst grade flowers in the states. I was like, I can’t stand these terrible flowers anymore. I just want to start growing my own flowers. Like we need fresher, more beautiful flowers. And there was one flower that was the turning point. It’s called the Cafe au lait Dahlia.
Every bride wanted them. We called them CALs slash life ruiners because they were so fragile, and you would order them from California, and they’re like $8 a stem, and you get 5 in a bunch, and they just melt. There’s no way, they’re so fragile. They’re like sparkly whipped frosting. Like you can’t put them in a box and ship them. So that was kind of where we started. We’re like, OK, we just, we have to start growing dahlias.
For McNamara, the artistry of flowers is central to her work. The choice to not import can pose its own challenges.
MCNAMARA: If beauty is the aim, and we want peonies and giant garden roses in winter, I think, yes, we still do need to import some of them. Or we need to invest in infrastructure or somebody needs to be interested in greenhouse technology and growing stuff locally. I think we do still need to import some stuff, but I think that like anything, we could just temper it down a little bit, and that would be a great answer for the environment.
But even then, there’s no substitute for a flower grown locally.
MCNAMARA: The energy that a flower in its season gives you is unbelievable. And these flowers last so much longer than grocery store flowers. Everyone wants me to teach them how to take care of grocery store flowers better. And that is a skill, and I know how to do it. But the thing is they’re like, they’re just so dead, and they’re shellacked in pesticides.
Growing native flowers also has immense benefits for the environment, and local ecology. According to an article from the Chicago Botanic Gardens, native plants were “the cornerstone in a sustainable web of life.” By growing native plants, we support the native birds, insects, and microorganisms that evolved with them, protecting biodiversity and wildlife in the area.
McNamara has seen this first-hand.
MCNAMARA: I’m trying to plant more and more, because the more native birds that we can attract, the better the insect control is for pests.
McNamara believes local flower farming can, and should, be adopted on a larger scale.
MCNAMARA: We’re educating people, we’re inspiring people, we’re creating habitat, and it really takes a lot of pressure off of the storm drains and everything because, flooding is mitigated. It also mitigates the heat island effect. Sometimes I’ll pull up to the farm and I can just smell like all the oxygen that’s like coming off of it. We have all these vacant lots, so many people want to do this work. All we need is some real serious tax incentives and some real serious funding and education.
According to the Wildflower Preservation and Propagation Committee, Chicago is home to many beautiful plant species: wild bergamot, sky blue aster, coneflowers, rue anemones, wild roses, and more. While these may not be the traditional Valentine’s bouquet of red roses, McNamara says local farmers offer some great alternatives.
MCNAMARA: I would say to go with flowering plants and locally grown tulips, because they don’t have any pesticides, they’re going to last longer, they’re better for the environment, and they have a lot more life and romance than a dozen roses with stiff foliage.
So see if you can buy some local flowers this Valentine’s Day: they’ll make your Valentine, and the Earth, happier.
For WNUR News, I’m Supriya Akella.
