Looking for white roses? Good luck.

An extraordinarily busy wedding season combined with poor weather at farms, logistical issues and labor shortages is driving up prices and tightening the supply of not just white roses — but flowers of many other species and colors as well.

“A whole lot of wholesalers are saying, ‘I’m sorry,’” says Dave Kaplan of Above All Flowers, a consulting and market facilitation company.

The supply issue isn’t new to the industry. When COVID-19 shutdowns hit last year, many farms pulled plants and cut production, creating a shortage just as demand was taking off. By now, farms have had time to plant new crops and start recovering. But, demand held through summer— and the additions of weddings and fall events are stressing supply.

There doesn’t look to be an end in sight. Many in the industry forecasted a worsening situation for at least the rest of the year and likely longer due to COVID-19-related issues.

“The flower situation is really tough. Demand is really, really high in the U.S.,” Pat Dahlson, Mayesh CEO, said in a video posted to the company website late last month. “I can only imagine what September and October are going to bring.”

Kaplan, who diligently tracks farm production schedules, international shipment statuses, customs clearing times and trucking logistics is preparing for more headaches.

“It’s getting more dire,” he says. “Thanksgiving is going to be super ugly, and Christmas beyond ugly.”

And while the stress on supply is creating challenges for everyone from farms to retail florists, it also illustrates just how strong and resilient the industry remains.

“I’d much rather be in this position than have an oversupply and no demand,” says Oscar Fernandez, director of sales for Equiflor-Rio Roses in Miami, Florida, and a member of the Society of American Florists’ board of directors. “This is a great position to be in. We just have to have the patience to deal with it.”

Weather Woes

Weather affects crops every year, but this year has been particularly hard on flowers grown in South America, says Lenny Walker, vice president of sales and operations for Kennicott Brothers.

Rain and cold temperatures have affected crops of roses, carnations, delphinium, lilies and stock, Walker says. In many cases, the weather has delayed production by several weeks. Production of carnations, alstroemeria, statice, spray roses, pompons and hydrangeas should increase this month, Walker says.

The availability of roses is attributed to several factors. The lack of sun and warmth slowed the growth of new shoots that produce flowers, which has delayed the next crop of roses. In addition, some rose plants were heavily pinched in order to produce in time for the holidays, while others are in the valley of the 8-12 week growth cycle. And, in Ecuador, there is a shortage of mother plants onto which other varieties of roses are grafted, Walker says.

Walker expects rose production to begin increasing by the end of the month. Kennicott is increasingly buying more roses from Holland to compensate for what they can’t source from South America, he says.

Logistic Lags

Backlogs at container ports throughout the world have caused some exporters to turn to cargo airlines to move goods. That means there is less room for flowers, which have less price elasticity to buy more space, says Christine Boldt, executive vice president of the Association of Floral Importers of Florida. She is concerned that as the holidays approach, more and more cargo space will be taken up by holiday merchandise and packages shipped between countries for ground delivery services such as FedEx and DHL.

There are also more delayed flights — and fewer flights — because of worker shortages, she says.

“One delay — an airline not leaving the country of origin on time — can be detrimental to every stem,” Boldt says.

When product does make it to Miami, it’s getting held up waiting on customs inspections, Kaplan says. Once released, a national shortage of truck drivers is making ground transportation difficult.

David Armellini, president and CEO of Armellini Logistics in Palm City, Florida, says his company is running more trucks, with each truck packed at a higher capacity. The company is so busy, he says, that he is using outside carriers and can’t easily take on more clients.

Competition for Supply

Also factoring into supply issues is competition from mass markets and other countries.

Supermarket floral department sales as of July 11 were up 26.5 percent year-to-date, according to a report for Produce Marketing Association by Information Resources Inc., (IRI).

Another IRI report showed that, as of June 13, sales at supermarkets were $6.6 billion, an increase of more than $1.2 million year-to-date. Roses contributed to the most dollar growth, accounting for $269 million of the sales, followed by potted plants at $260 million and bouquets at $243 million, the report said.

Demand for flowers from other countries is also growing. According to a report by Expoflores, the Ecuadorian Flower Growers and Exporters Association, exports to North America from January to May were up 4 percent from the same time period last year, compared with 8 percent to Europe’s exports and 5 percent to Eurasia’s exports.

Premium Prices

If anyone has been able to get white roses, they likely paid a premium.

“The prices for flowers right now are extremely high,” Fernandez says. “Prices that you’ve never seen outside of a holiday.”

Roses that are typically about 65 cents a stem are now closer to $1 per stem. The increase is partly driven by demand, but also because the costs to produce, harvest, transport and distribute the flowers have increased, Fernandez says. He expects prices to remain high.

“This isn’t something that is going away,” Fernandez said. “People are going to have to pass on.”

That’s the advice economist Charlie Hall, Ph. D., the Ellison Chair of Floriculture at Texas A&M University, has shared with the floral industry this year. Hall has said that while the costs for materials to cultivate flowers may decrease in the future, other factors such as the shortage of truck drivers may never normalize. Hall has also urged florists to raise their prices.

Positive Perspective

Strong demand indicates a strong market and gives the industry reason to be optimistic.

“We finally tipped the scales to where people understand the joy of flowers and what they mean,” Walker says. “We’ve created what we’ve asked for for years.”

Mayesh is turning the problem into an opportunity. When even substitutions become difficult because there isn’t enough of a specific color to fill an order, Dahlson’s sales staff pulls different flowers and color palettes to showcase new looks for clients. The alternatives have been well received.

“People are like, ‘Wow! I never would have thought about using that,’ ’’ Dahlson says.

Amanda Jedlinsky is the managing editor of SAF Now.