Does anyone else hate fresh flowers?

[crochetmonkey74]

It strick me today that I hate fresh flowers as a gift.
I like the look of them , and I love a gorgeous garden or a potted tree/arrangement by front doors etc but when I have a bouquet I just hate it. I can never make it look nice, the petals all fall off and they are just a faff
Of course I can never admit this as its something you're meant to love. I'm not ungrateful, and I actually buy them as a gift for others, so this is a bit lighthearted I suppose.

Yup. They make me sad as I know they'll die soon. I get to watch a bunch of plants slowly die. Hooray for me.

OMG REALLY!? i was expecting to be flamed 😂😂😂

I’ve been on MN too long, lost all faith in humanity 😂

I hate the work involved.

When someone buys you flowers they are basically giving you a chore.
The unwrapping
trimming the stems
Removing lower leaves
mixing the food
arranging them
disposing of the wrapping
disposing of the trimmings
days later changing the water
picking up dropped petals
disposing of the flowers
washing the vase
drying the vase

They look nice (mostly), but I can’t be doing with the faff.

Cut flowers make me feel sad. They remind me of death, probably because they are dying themselves.

They are so expensive as a gift, particularly as they will literally last a few days. Whilst it's lovely if someone buys me a present, If I'm given flowers I always wish I'd been given something else and the buyer had not wasted their money.

I love them and have had letterbox flowers that didn't take all day to arrange, looked lovely once they opened and lasted ages.

Currently, I have a bunch of daffodils in the lounge. They are a lovely reminder that spring is on the way and this god awful weather will hopefully be coming to an end.

From tomorrow if the weather forecast is correct. Hooray!

Agree wholeheartedly. Anyone else find they draw more attention to the mess in your home when displayed? Seems like should be for influencer exclusively.
At my house anyway it always seems like polishing a turd.

Nope I love them, but it can be frustrating to be handed a bunch that need arranging when you’re hosting.

I eventually manage to kill all indoor plants and so don’t much like receiving them as a gift as I always feel awkward when they are thrown out.

I always tend to hand hosts a potted plant/ another gift as the only time I don’t want to arrange flowers is when I’m hosting a dinner party. They get stuffed in a glass to be dealt with later.

A friend of mine lost a beloved pet and a group of friends were going to organise some flowers for her. I wasn't sure she'd like them so I checked. Glad I did as she said she'd hate it. When the flowers died, she'd have to deal with that and it would be like losing the pet all over again. The same money bought a beautiful fruit tree as a permanent reminder that will continue to live, and grow, not have to go on a compost pile!

I hate them passionately for all the reasons already covered. When I had my twins my work sent flowers by mail, I remember coming back from a walk with them and there was this box, almost as big as me. By the time I had them out of the box and the box folded up for recycling the kids were waking from their nap and I still had to cut them, find a vase etc so I ended up just taking the plastic off and dumping them straight into the green bin. It's only where they were going to end up in like 4 days after they'd made the house smell bad 2 of those, so I thought, let's cut out the middleman.

Also being sent them shows such a lack of thought in terms of gift giving. I'd rather have anything else...a book, perfume, chocolates... literally anything else.

Ugh YES. I'm a total grinch about cut flowers. My heart sinks when I am given them - such a waste of time and money!

YUP!!! They'll either get plonked in a vase with the plastic still wrapped round it or they straight in the bin. I don't have time or energy for that crap 😆

Am not that fussed about them as a gift - seems too wasteful (airmiles, growing land, plastic wrap etc) but grow them for cutting myself on the allotment and LOVE it when fresh flower season starts. We have vases and vases of fresh flowers from about late Feb (daffs) right up until about December when the first frosts tend to put an end to it.

Yes I hate them, I think they are such a shit gift. Massive waste of money.

I like a few flowers from my own garden, sometimes, but a big bought bouquet looks very 20th century to me.

The environmental impact of driving the bloody things around depresses me.

I don't mind the ones that come in a box already arranged, but my heart sinks if I receive a bunch I've got to mess about with myself.

I'm not overly keen on flowers in the house anyway, I'd much rather have plants - preferably succulents so I don't have to make too much effort to keep them alive!

Agree it's a waste of money...they are really expensive. If someone is going to be so kind as to spend £40+ on me, I'd like something I can actually keep and use. I rarely spend money on myself so having something expensive I don't want given to me feels like such an awful waste.

Well, all flowers shrivel up and die whether you cut them from the plant or not.

I love cut flowers and I also love flowers in gardens. My heart sinks, however, when someone buys me a flowering indoor potted plant.

@ManateeFair at least they can fulfil their normal life cycle. Flowers in the garden provide food for insects etc which doesn't happen if they're sitting on a mantelpiece. Potted indoor plants can still survive and thrive as they're rooted in soil.

Yeah! So much effort to sort then to get rid of, clean the vase etc few days later. Not a fan at all. Yet buy them for others 🙈

I'm unreasonably pleased to hear all the other people who just think they're a chore.

Most people irl gasp with horror when I say I don't like flowers!

I love flowers, hardly ever get any but l grow lots, and l prefer the wilder more natural looking ones than the stiff carnations and fake looking coloured ones, they have on offer in supermarkets. I feel guilty picking them mind, l mostly just admire them in the garden.

Absolutely this!! I can’t stand it if someone buys me a bouquet of flowers! The mess and the faff. Even worse if they turn up with a bunch when I’m hosting dinner/lunch - I’m in the middle of cooking why would I want to be looking for a vase and arranging flowers at the same time?!?!,
Also I think it’s a waste of money, for the price of a bouquet of flowers I could have something more useful like a pair of slippers or even a nice jumper

They always arrive looking less than perfect, did you trim the stems and use tepid water etc?

I think it comes with age realising you don’t like something you are supposed to like. My ‘fresh flowers’ is dancing. I hate it with a passion