Valentine’s Day is just a few days away. Have you decided yet what you plan to give to someone special in your life on that day?

Niki Nygaard Brose, owner of Flower Central in Minot, offers some suggestions to those who are thinking about buying flowers for a gift.

Brose is one of only two florists in North Dakota who are accredited by the American Institute of Floral Designers. She’s been in the floral industry for about 25 years.

Brose said her store at 405 Central Avenue has been getting in all the supplies needed from flowers to vases and other items since January. The flowers will be arriving next week so they are fresh for the occasion, she said.

“The most popular for Valentine’s Day is roses,” Brose said. Besides the traditional red roses, she said there’s lots of beautiful colors available lavenders, pinks, yellows, oranges all sorts of different colors and different varieties.

There’s also rainbow or varied colored roses. “The water is dyed and it goes through the stems to create the colors of the petals,” she said.

Roses are the traditional flower for Valentine’s Day but some people buy other flowers for that special day.

“Lillies are popular, orchids, hydrangeas, tulips, gerbera daisies… We get lots of tropical flowers just a whole range of things,” she said. “I would say about half of our deliveries for Valentine’s Day are for roses and half of mixed (flowers).”

She said some people don’t want to be traditional for Valentine’s Day. “They want to be different and unique,” Brose said. “We get a lot of different flowers in like pincushion proteas they look like a pincushion. We like to use a lot of different types of flowers because it intrigues people.”

She said most flowers come in some type of vase so they have a water source, but people can upgrade to another type of vase.

When ordering flowers for Valentine’s Day, Brose said, “The earlier the better.” People already have been ordering flowers for that day at her store.

When orders are made early, she said that also allows a store to get in any special requested flowers.

Flower Central has three full-time designers including Brose, three part-time employees and two part-time drivers.

What’s fun about Valentine’s Day for a florist?

Before Valentine’s Day, Brose said she’s concerned that they have everything in stock. “But when it gets here it’s just kind of exhilarating and your adrenaline is going because it’s so busy,” she said.

She said it’s fun to see people come in and pick out what they want. She said people will also pick out stuffed animals, candy, balloons and candles to go with the flowers.

“This is a guy’s holiday,” she said. “We do have some ladies, but it’s mostly guys coming in.” She said many of them do not know what they want when they arrive at the store.

But whatever age bracket they are, she said roses continue to be the favorite Valentine’s Day flower.

“Balloons and bears, roses and candy, and candles too,” she said. “It can be as simple as you want or as crazy as you want.”