PESHAWAR: With the advent of spring season, people here have started visiting florist shops selling flowers of different varieties and colours that add grace, fragrance and tinge to propitious events.

Flowers are in great demand as people in spring want to add more fragrance and colour to their happy events, said a flowers dealer in Peshawar.

Ramdas locality of Peshawar has the major floral market which supplies flowers to the entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and even Punjab. Most farmers grow flowers in villages located close to Peshawar, including Bazidkhel, Saifan, Bara Sheikhan, Sheikh Mohammadi Sulaimannkhel, Shahabkhel and Mashookhel.

The farmers bring fresh flowers early in the morning to the Ramdas Bazaar where around 20 stores decorate bunches for the buyers and also for the wholesalers.

Shahabuddin Khan, a florist in Ramdaz Bazaar, told this scribe that except a short break during Ramazan, the storekeepers remained busy round the year and earned enough money. He said that spring was considered as the peak point of their business when sale of flowers scaled up significantly.

Most farmers grow flowers in villages near Peshawar

He said that flowers were being used in different ways on both happy and sad occasions, adding that flowers carried different meanings for people of good taste. He said that his family had been doing the flowers business for over four decades and knew how to decorate bridegroom’s room and car and guest houses with different designs and patterns of flowers.

Nusrat Khan, father of Shahabuddin, said that most sellers in the market grew flowers in their village fields. He said that the people of Peshawar had a special taste and love for flowers. He said that not all the sellers knew the art of decorating original floral patterns.

“My son and a few others in the market provide home service. Recently, my son decorated a bridegroom’s bed which fetched him Rs54, 000. Such a work requires special fresh flowers, which costs Rs30 per flower, and well-off people approach us weeks ahead of their wedding ceremonies,’ he said.

Shah Daman, another shopkeeper, said that garlands, bracelets and earrings made of flowers were sold at Rs500 to 1,500 and decorating bridegroom’s bed could cost between Rs15,000 and 75,000 depending on the quality of flowers coupled with arrangement patterns.

Mr Daman said that marigold, jasmine, carnation and red rose were being bought for happy events like wedding and engagement ceremonies and many people also bought flowers for sad occasions like for mourning death of someone close to the buyers.

The florist said that sellers could easily earn up to Rs15,000 daily in spring season. However, he added that it was a risky business as fresh flowers couldn’t last longer than a day.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2020