Just when the holiday arrived, the peonies in the South of France were ready to be harvested. Even as the peonies in other European countries like Italy and The Netherlands. “The cold weather in January delayed the season of the peonies with two weeks,” tells Rus. “This way we had 69 percent more peonies to offer compared to last year. Logically this high offer also infected the price. According to Gilles the price dropped with 28 percent in comparison to 2017.
The peonies play an important roll at Mother’s Day. “They represent 30 percent of all the flowers we offer at the auction. Roses are also a popular flower for Mother’s Day, however they represent only 10 percent. We have a good demand, but the offer is very low”, Gilles explains.
“Ten years ago we had ten growers of peonies and about 130 growers of roses. Now we find the tables are turned. We have twelve growers of roses and about 140 growers of peonies. Although roses are still popular, the production of peonies has the upperhand at the auction at Mothers Day's Week."
