National Flower Day

The United States imported a record $1.98 billion in cut flowers in 2024. More than 80% came from Colombia alone. American growers produced roughly $350 million worth of cut flowers domestically that same year, a fraction of what arrives by air from South America daily.

That imbalance was not always the case. The American cut flower industry was born in California in the late 1870s, built by immigrant families who grew and sold flowers in communities from San Francisco to Los Angeles. What was once a local, domestic industry has become one of the most globally dependent supply chains in American commerce. National Flower Day, observed on the spring equinox, arrives at a moment when the industry is navigating new tariffs, a pollinator crisis, and a growing consumer movement to buy local.

Humans have cultivated flowers for at least 5,000 years. Ancient Egyptians used lotus blossoms in religious ceremonies. Greeks wove flowers into mythology, associating roses with Aphrodite and narcissus with the underworld. But the most elaborate system of flower communication developed much later, in 19th-century Europe.

In 1819, Charlotte de Latour published Le Langage des Fleurs in Paris, the first dictionary devoted entirely to flower symbolism. The book formalized floriography, the coded language of flowers, and was translated across Europe. During the Victorian era, when social norms restricted direct emotional expression, people exchanged "tussie-mussies": small handheld bouquets where each flower carried a specific meaning. A yellow rose communicated jealousy. A red tulip declared love. Lavender expressed devotion. These bouquets served a practical purpose too, their strong scents masking the odors of an era before modern sanitation.

The American flower industry

The commercial cut flower industry in the United States began in California in the late 1870s, pioneered by Theodosia Shepard, a Ventura housewife who began selling garden flowers commercially. California's Mediterranean climate allowed year-round production, and immigrant families — Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and Dutch — expanded and transformed the industry over the following decades.

In 1912, fifty-four Japanese immigrant growers founded the Los Angeles Southern California Flower Market, one of the largest in the country. For most of the 20th century, American flowers were grown domestically, with farms concentrated near major cities in the East and in California's coastal valleys.

That changed on October 18, 1965, when the first shipment of Colombian cut flowers arrived in Miami. Colombia's high-altitude equatorial climate produced ideal growing conditions with abundant light and mild temperatures, while labor costs were dramatically lower than in the US. The Andean Trade Preference Act later eliminated tariffs on Colombian flower imports, accelerating the shift. By the 1980s, Colombia was the leading supplier of cut flowers to the United States, and many domestic growers had shut down or shifted to potted plants and specialty varieties.

By 2024, the United States imported a record $1.98 billion in cut flowers. Colombia supplied over 80% of imports at $1.59 billion, followed by Ecuador at $693 million. American growers produced only about $350 million domestically. California still leads domestic production at 60% of US cut flower sales, but many of its growers now focus on specialty varieties too delicate for long-distance transport.

In 2025, new tariffs were placed on Colombian imports (from 0% to 10%) and Ecuadorian imports (from 6.8% to 15%), creating uncertainty in an industry operating on thin margins.

The national flower

On November 20, 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed Proclamation 5574 in the White House Rose Garden, designating the rose as the national floral emblem of the United States. The proclamation noted that George Washington had been an active rose breeder at Mount Vernon and that roses were grown in all fifty states. The decision followed decades of competing proposals, including a sustained campaign by Senator Everett Dirksen to designate the marigold.

The observance

National Flower Day has no documented founder or establishing organization. The March 21 date aligns with the spring equinox, when the Northern Hemisphere's growing season begins.