MIAMI—From bud to bloom, harvest to vase, the trail of the rose that ends on Valentine’s Day is a model of supply chain synchronicity perfected over the past half-century.
More than 90 percent of the roses Americans will buy for Valentine’s Day were grown on co-op farms on the Andean slopes of Colombia and Ecuador, pinched to induce buds in November, cut only days ago, and flown to Miami International Airport to be shipped in refrigerated trucks within hours to wholesalers nationwide.
Rose stems cut in Colombia this morning could be in a florist shop in Columbia, South Carolina, tonight….