The blush is off

Red roses are passe.

Once the indisputable symbol of love on Valentine's Day, the red rose is falling out of favor as many women decry a bouquet of long-stemmed red roses as "boring." Thoughtful Romeos, they say, send something more personalized, and they'd just as soon receive tulips, orchids, or a mixed arrangement in a favorite color.

"I want something exciting and different, something unusual," said Waltham retiree Barbara Lewicki. "Anything but roses."

A consumer survey commissioned by the American Floral Endowment indicated that only 54 percent of Valentine's Day flower purchases last year were roses, down from 57 percent in 2003. At Winston Flowers 25 years ago, red roses made up 80 percent of the day's sales; last year, they were under half, said co-owner David Winston.

"Consumers are venturing into new types of flowers and not just selecting traditional red roses," added Bill Strauss, chief executive of online merchant ProFlowers, where roses are expected to fall below 50 percent of total Valentine's Day sales this year. "If you've been married 10 years, do you send the same thing every year?"

So what's giving the rose competition? "We've seen tulips emerge as a hot alternative," said Ken Young , a spokesman for 1-800-Flowers.com, which sold 1 million tulips last Valentine's Day, up from 360,000 in 2003.

One reason for the shift is that more variety is available. Imports account for 70 percent of the fresh-cut flowers sold in the United States, where consumers spend an estimated $19 billion a year on such things as cut flowers and potted plants, according to the Society of American Florists. Give consumers more choices, and some will take advantage of them.

That doesn't necessarily mean Americans are buying fewer red roses, but that they're buying more of other flowers, including different colors of roses. As a result, red rose sales are a smaller percentage of the overall flower sales on Valentine's Day.

When KaBloom opened for business in the late 1990s, red roses represented 70 percent of Valentine's Day rose sales, said chief executive David Hartstein. Last year, roses in such colors as pink, peach, and purple accounted for half the day's rose business.

According to flower industry surveys, men like bold colors, and women prefer pastels. "Out of 10 women, six to seven would rather get a rose that's a color other than red," said Hartstein.

In some cases, consumers buy alternatives to roses because they're cheaper. In FTD.com's Valentine's Day catalog, an assortment of 20 tulips is $48.99 versus $79.99 for a dozen red roses.

For many people, price isn't an issue. A reason for disenchantment with roses is that they're seen as a cliché, the default choice of the last-minute Romeo.

"A dozen roses doesn't exactly say a lot of thought went into this on the sender's part," said Winston of Winston Flowers.

Rival retailers make that point in looking to steal Valentine's Day business. Vermont Teddy Bear Co., for example, promotes its lineup as a "creative alternative to flowers."

Legends vary on how and when the tradition of giving red roses on Valentine's Day began, but roses have been associated with love since the biblical times of King Solomon, according to the California Cut Flower Commission. In Roman mythology, the rose was a favorite of Venus, the goddess of love.

Today, however, red roses elicit mixed feelings. "They say, 'I love you' more, but other flowers are prettier," said Olivia Fahey, 16, of Milton. Her mother, Suzanne Fahey , dismissed roses as "run of the mill." And Luke Pelz , 17, of Newton, said mixed arrangements of flowers seem "more personalized."

But don't write off red roses just yet. Feb. 14 is one of the few days in the year that florists see hordes of men. When buying flowers, many men stick to what they know, and that's usually roses, florists said.

And some women remain steadfast traditionalists. For Grace Ferlito, a Long Island, N.Y., retiree, there's nothing like red roses.

"Never underestimate the power of the red rose," she said. "It is the sexiest and most passionate of all roses. When a women receives a bouquet of red roses, the message is: 'I love you. I want you. You are my everything.' "

Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.