Human Flower Project

Pretty Without the Poison


In Europe and South America, a half-dozen companies have been marketing organic flowers on a large scale for a decade. Are U.S. buyers and brokers ready to kick the pesticide-herbicide habit?


Most Americans want their glads and roses tall, impeccable and, of course, cheap. Growing for a national or international market, how’s that possible? With pesticides.

An article in emagazine profiles Gerald Prolman’s effort to mass market organic flowers through a company he’s called Organic Bouquet.

Because the U.S. Department of Agriculture doesn’t regulate pesticides on flowers but “U.S. Customs will reject a whole shipment for a single insect,” the $16 billion cut flower business here is dominated by poisoned merchandise.

So what? Here’s what:

“Flower workers pay a heavy price. In Ecuador, the second-largest exporter of flowers to the United States, 60 percent of workers suffer from headaches, nausea, blurred vision or fatigue, according to a 1999 study by the International Labor Organization. Doctors in Cayambe, the rose capital of Ecuador, confirm these findings and add birth defects, sterility and miscarriages to the list.”

Prolman believes that American consumers are ready to wake up and “start thinking not only about their own health but also that of workers and ecosystems around the globe.”  Since 2001, he’s been working with Whole Foods Market and several other companies to develop Organic Bouquet.

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The Arnoskys’ gladiola field, Blanco, Texas

Photo: Texas Specialty Cut Flowers

Actually, the organic flower business was initiated and has been kept alive by small-scale growers. Whether Organic Bouquet succeeds or not, the truth is that with a little bit of looking you can probably find beautiful organic flowers in your own city or town right now. Here in Austin, Texas, we enjoy the bounty of Pamela and Frank Arnosky’s Texas Specialty Cut Flowers. The Arnoskys sell their zinnias, gladiolas, sunflowers, and 50 other varieties through the farmers’ market and other local outlets. Their flowers are fresh—and spectacular.

The Human Flower Project looks forward to visiting their Blanco farm in ranunculus season.




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