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HOW MODERN FLORISTRY IMPACTS THE PEOPLE CLOSEST TO THE WORK

Flowers are often treated as harmless.

They’re decorative. Temporary. Something we enjoy for a few days and then throw away. We don’t eat them. We don’t think of them as something that could affect our health.

But flowers are agricultural products.

And like all agricultural products, the way they’re grown and handled matters.

Photography: Piccadilly Posh Photography

The people most impacted by modern flower production are not the people buying a bouquet once in a while. They are the people who grow, process, ship, and handle flowers every single day.

Growers.

Farm workers.

Wholesalers.

Florists and designers.

This post is about them. And why that matters to the rest of us.

GROWERS AND FARM WORKERS

Large scale flower production is built around consistency. Crops are grown densely. Losses are expensive. Cosmetic perfection is expected.

To maintain that level of uniformity, chemical inputs are common. Pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides are used to control insects, disease, and mold in environments where flowers are grown year round and harvested continuously.

Many of the chemicals used in ornamental flower production are not permitted for use on food crops in the United States. Flowers are regulated differently. They are not eaten, so residue limits do not apply in the same way.

That distinction does not disappear for the people working in those fields.

Farm workers are exposed repeatedly, often daily, through skin contact and inhalation. Protective equipment is not always sufficient, and long term exposure is still not fully understood.

There have been documented cases of serious illness among florists and flower workers, including cancers that medical professionals later linked to occupational pesticide exposure. In at least one widely reported case, a florist’s child died from cancer after exposure during pregnancy was identified as a contributing factor.

This is not shared to alarm.

It is shared to acknowledge that harm has occurred.

HANDLERS AND DESIGNERS

Exposure does not end at the farm.

Flowers move through long supply chains before they reach a florist’s cooler. Along the way, they are boxed, refrigerated, and treated to survive transit. Fungicides are commonly applied after harvest to prevent mold during storage and shipping. Additional pesticide treatments may be used to ensure insects are not transported across borders.

Because flowers are not regulated like food, there is no standardized disclosure of what those treatments are, how often they are applied, or how long residues remain on the stems and foliage.

Many florists do not talk about this openly.

But their practices reveal an awareness all the same. Gloves are common in floral shops. Hands are washed repeatedly throughout the day. There is an understanding that prolonged contact is not neutral, even if the reasons are not always named.

I do not wear gloves when I work. I want to feel the stems. I want to smell the flowers. Texture, weight, and freshness matter to me. Being close to the product is part of how I design.

Over time, it became clearer why that choice is not universal. Not because flowers are inherently dangerous, but because many are handled at a distance for a reason.

CONSUMERS AND UNKNOWNS

For most people buying flowers occasionally, this all feels far removed.

A bouquet once a month is not the same as daily exposure. Attending a few weddings a year is not the same as handling flowers for decades.

No one is suggesting that a single arrangement causes cancer.

But here is the question worth asking.

If chronic exposure has been serious enough to result in illness and cancer among people closest to the work, what do we really know about long term, low level exposure for everyone else?

The honest answer is that we do not know much at all.

Flowers exist in a regulatory gray area. We assume safety largely because we do not measure harm. And when something is not measured, it rarely becomes part of the conversation.

This is where the comparison to food becomes useful.

Many people choose organic produce not because they believe one apple will make them sick, but because they prefer fewer unknowns over time. It is a cumulative decision, not a reactionary one.

Flowers have not been given that same consideration.

WHY CHOICE MATTERS

This is not an argument against flowers.

It is an argument for awareness.

When there is an option that shortens the supply chain, reduces chemical inputs, and increases transparency, it is reasonable to consider it.

Locally grown flowers are not perfect. No agricultural system is. But they are handled by fewer people, travel shorter distances, and are grown by farmers who can speak directly to their practices.

They reduce unknowns.

Choice also shapes the industry itself.

Floral supply chains respond to demand. When buyers consistently choose flowers grown closer to home, produced at smaller scales, and sourced with transparency, those systems grow stronger. Farmers plant more. Infrastructure expands. Alternatives become more viable.

In the same way that consumer interest reshaped food systems over time, flower systems shift when expectations change. Not overnight, and not perfectly, but steadily.

Individual choices may feel small. But collectively, they determine what kinds of farming, labor, and practices are able to exist at all.

And when beauty, cost, and impact can align, why would we not choose that?

Many of our expectations around flowers are inherited rather than intentional. White blooms year round. Identical palettes regardless of season. Images that float free of context.

Letting go of those expectations does not limit beauty.

It often reveals more of it.

Let go and allow beauty to tell your day.

WHY THIS POST EXISTS

This is not about fear or guilt.

It is about recognizing that flowers are not neutral objects. They are part of a system that affects real people long before they reach our hands.

Understanding that does not take joy away.

It gives it weight.

The materials we use to build arrangements deserve the same scrutiny. The materials we use to build arrangements ->