Do We Give Flowers to Men?

Even if, at first glance, an article written by a florist may look biased — with an obvious interest in growing the market share of the Romanian flower industry — I genuinely set out to find a definitive answer to this question.

The Romanian flower market is far from mature, and we sit near the bottom of the European table for flower consumption per capita. While the average Dutch person spends roughly 350 – 400 lei a year on flowers, a Romanian barely spends a quarter of that, some 50 – 100 lei a year.

The share of the market made up of flowers bought for men is tiny, and most of it consists of — yes, you guessed it — funeral flowers. So a strictly accurate answer is that we do give flowers to men, even if we do it as a final gesture of gratitude. The logic behind that reality is a strange one: why is a man not worthy of receiving flowers while he is still alive?

So what is the reality — do men receive flowers or not?

1. If a woman gave me red roses, I would think about her endlessly.

If a woman gave me red roses I would remember her bold gesture for the whole of my life. I might think about her for the rest of my days, and I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that.

2. Personally, I would be delighted to receive flowers on my birthday.

There are two simple reasons behind that statement.

1. I like flowers.
2. I have never been given flowers in my life.

What do other people say?

My wife brought me flowers on my birthday and I was pleasantly surprised.

I had never been given flowers in my life, and her bold gesture was genuinely surprising.

It is a lovely thing, and one I never thought would happen to me.

She gave me the flowers as a surprise and told me: I read somewhere that men only get flowers at their funeral and I found that so sad, so I decided to buy you flowers.

Want to give a man flowers without getting it wrong or leaving room for interpretation?

Choose a plant arrangement in a ceramic pot.

I do not believe there is a man alive who would mind receiving an arrangement like that as a gift.

So what is the final answer? It depends…

The final answer depends on the social circle and on the country where the gesture takes place.

The final answer depends on the character of the man receiving the flowers.

The final answer depends on the relationship you have with the man on the receiving end. If he is your partner you can give him red roses; if he is your brother, a floral arrangement in masculine colours will do beautifully.

A floral gift for a man goes wonderfully with a bottle of red wine.