It is absolutely crazy to me the mark up on roses this time of year or for a matter of fact any flower that is red. I was in Trader Joe’s last week and purchased a gorgeous bouquet of roses for $5.99 and yesterday I ran in to grab my favorite trail mix and just as I was entering the store I glanced at the roses sitting outside in the buckets… only this time they weren’t $5.99 they were $12.99!! Yes, roses are pretty and appropriate for February 14th, but personally they aren’t my favorite flower, especially red roses… eh, white roses and maybe baby pink roses on the other hand I can work with.  It’s crazy how on Valentine’s Day roses become the ONLY flower to give someone. I mean what about the sunflowers, fresia, hydrangeas, tulips and ranunculus? They don’t get any love on Valentine’s Day. While at the flower mart on Tuesday, I reached for the baby roses and asked how much for the bunch of 6? The nice man responded with $16.50. My jaw dropped I then casually put them back in the bucket full of water and quietly thought to myself is this man nuts. Two seconds later I picked up twice as many ranunculus for half the price. Don’t get me wrong roses are great and romantic and yada yada yada, but so are so many other flowers during this time of year. Here are just a few favorites below that make a gorgeous Valentine’s Day bouquet just in case you don’t know her favorite flower and aren’t in the mood to spend a fortune on flowers that will be marked down the day after. AND if you are lazy and aren’t in the mood to head to the store and stand in line check out BloomThat based in San Francisco. Flowers start at $35.00 and are delivered in 90 minutes… pretty sure you can’t go wrong with that deal!