Experts estimate that the price of flowers has increased by up to 20% since 2020. The reduction of cultivated area on the Island and the increase in the cost of imported goods, among other reasons due to the ukrainian warare the factors that cause the increase in the cost of a product that these days is essential to honor the dead by All Saints Day (today) and of the Dead (tomorrow). This sector of plants characteristic of this time of year multiply their sales exponentially, more than 50%, compared to other periods.
Silvia is the daughter of the founder of Flores Amparo, one of the classic stalls outside the Santa Lastenia cemetery, in Santa Cruz. She expresses “her nerves and a little fear, because these days we play all year. The investment is great.” But, she clarifies: «As my mother used to say, if you don’t risk, you neither win nor lose».
Ten euros for a bouquet of roses or five for chrysanthemums, the flower of the deceased, are examples of the rise
Acknowledge the price increase, because “What was worth one euro now costs three or four.” But that “doesn’t turn people away.” In fact, the last two years – and this is even more noticeable, with the end of the restrictions due to the pandemic – “even more people come, although in a staggered way, because there is a weekend before”. Valora, who has been dedicated to this profession for years, the “good security and transport device”. She also remembers that «before everything was concentrated in one day but now it is different». In fact, she adds, “today (yesterday) is the most intense day, with work all day.” Tomorrow (for today), “people come quieter, almost for a walk and we finish at noon,” she says. Silvia has a permanent employee and these days she has hired two people. The chrysanthemum is the best-selling flower, “but people ask for everything,” she concludes.
On the other side is Ana. She has bought at a flower shop, which is not Silvia’s, a bouquet of ten roses that has cost ten euros and another of chrysanthemums, five. For a single family member. He considers it “expensive, especially chrysanthemums, a very common flower that grows almost anywhere and whose cultivation is not as expensive as that of the rose or the tulip. God forbid, if we speak, for example, of orchids». He provides a piece of information: “My mother has five siblings here, her father and her mother. At twenty euros –at least two bouquets of chrysanthemums–, just add to obtain an amount: 140 euros».
Despite everything, the people of Tenerife are going to honor their deceased with flowers today. It is the tradition and it is not going to be broken with it. No matter how expensive they cost and even if everyone can’t afford it.
