Sustainable flower delivery means sourcing flowers locally and seasonally wherever possible, using eco-friendly packaging, and cutting down on the transport, water and energy that go into flying flowers in from overseas. Most cut flowers sold in Ireland are imported from the Netherlands, Kenya, Colombia and Ecuador. Flowers Made Easy has followed sustainable sourcing and packaging practices since 2007, and offers same-day delivery across Dublin on orders placed before 2pm (1pm on Fridays), with next-day delivery available nationwide to every county in Ireland.
More people are asking where their flowers actually come from, and it's a fair question. The Irish cut flower market is worth several hundred million euro a year, and only a small fraction of that, by most industry estimates around five percent, is grown on Irish soil. The rest arrives by air and refrigerated freight from the Netherlands, Kenya, Colombia, Ecuador and the UK, often travelling thousands of kilometres before reaching a florist's workshop. At Flowers Made Easy, sustainability has been part of how we work since 2007, long before it became a talking point, and it shapes how we source flowers, package orders and deliver across Dublin and the rest of Ireland.
Why the flower supply chain matters more than people realise
A single imported rose can take a surprising amount of water to grow, commonly cited at around ten litres per stem in the drought-prone regions where much of the world's cut-flower supply is farmed. On top of that, refrigerated air freight from East Africa or South America to Europe is one of the more carbon-intensive ways to move any product, let alone one as perishable as a fresh flower. None of this makes imported flowers bad; global trade is how florists everywhere can offer varieties that don't grow well, or at all, in an Irish climate. But it does mean that where a genuinely local or seasonal alternative exists, choosing it has a real, measurable benefit over defaulting to an imported bloom out of habit.
Locally and seasonally sourced flowers cut out most of that transport and irrigation burden. A flower grown in, or reasonably near, the country it's sold in typically travels by road rather than by air, uses rainfall rather than intensive irrigation, and doesn't need to be forced into bloom outside its natural growing window with artificial heat and light.
How Flowers Made Easy sources sustainably
As an award-winning team of florists with 15 years of experience, we're committed to using locally sourced flowers and materials whenever possible, building bouquets around what's genuinely in season rather than defaulting to whatever's cheapest to import that week. Every order goes out in sustainable, eco-friendly packaging that looks beautiful as well as doing right by the environment, and each bouquet is hand-tied fresh to order and delivered in a protective aqua pack, so it arrives in perfect condition without unnecessary waste along the way.
This isn't a seasonal campaign for us. It's been part of how Flowers Made Easy has operated since 2007, and it's built into every stage of the process: which flowers we choose to stock, how far they've travelled before they reach our florists, and how we pack and deliver the finished bouquet so it survives the journey without excess material going in the bin at the other end.wonder
Our most sought after sustainable bouquet is Wild & Wonderful: based on the local flowers of Ireland it arrived wrapped in burlap that can be re-used or easily recycled and it can be bought alongside a long list of other gifts. Take a look at it here or click the image below: https://www.flowersmadeeasy.ie/products/wild-wonderful
What a sustainable bouquet actually looks like
In practice, this means favouring flowers that are either grown in Ireland or sourced from growers with shorter, less carbon-intensive supply routes, particularly for anything in season. Sunflowers, dahlias, sweet pea and hydrangea, for example, all grow well in an Irish climate through the summer months, which means less reliance on imported stems from further afield during that window. It also means foliage choices like eucalyptus, salal and gypsophilia that hold up well without requiring the same intensive growing conditions as some imported flowering varieties.
It's not an all-or-nothing switch. Some flowers people love, and expect to see in a bouquet all year round, simply don't grow in Ireland at any time of year, and imported stems remain part of a well-rounded florist's range. The sustainable choice is about weighting the range toward local and seasonal options wherever a genuine alternative exists, not pretending every flower can be grown down the road.
Sustainable delivery across Dublin, and nationwide
Sustainability and convenience don't have to be a trade-off. Same-day delivery is available across Dublin city and county on orders placed before 2pm, Monday to Thursday, and before 1pm on Fridays. For anywhere else in the country, next-day delivery is available to every county in Ireland, so a thoughtful, sustainably sourced bouquet can reach a doorstep in Cork, Limerick, Kildare, Louth, Wicklow, Mayo or Meath just as easily as one in Dublin.
Consolidating delivery into a same-day Dublin window and a single nationwide next-day run, rather than multiple smaller despatches, also means fewer separate delivery journeys overall, which is a smaller but real part of keeping the environmental footprint of getting a bouquet to your door down.
Simple ways to make a more sustainable choice yourself
If sustainability matters to you when choosing flowers, a few things are worth knowing. Seasonal flowers are generally the more sustainable choice, since they haven't been grown out of season in heated conditions or flown in from further afield. Asking whether a bouquet leans on in-season stems, rather than assuming every flower on display was grown just for that order, is a reasonable question to put to any florist, including us.
Looking after your bouquet properly once it arrives also reduces waste. Trimming the stems at an angle, changing the water every one to two days, and keeping the arrangement away from direct heat and sunlight all extend a bouquet's life toward its full nine to fourteen days, which means more use out of the same flowers, water and packaging that went into it in the first place. Recycling or reusing the aqua pack and any biodegradable wrapping once the flowers are done is a small final step that closes the loop.
Sustainable flower delivery, in short, means locally and seasonally sourced flowers wherever a genuine alternative exists, packaged in eco-friendly materials, delivered same-day across Dublin city and county on orders before 2pm Monday to Thursday or 1pm on Fridays, with next-day delivery available nationwide to every county in Ireland.
Still looking to send a bouquet of fresh, sustainable flowers? Take a look at our entire range here: https://www.flowersmadeeasy.ie/