Courting romance

Yes, we know, red roses say, "I love you." But there is a drawback. They can also say, "I have no imagination" -- or worse.

"When I worked at a bigger shop, people who bought dozens of roses would be calling the next day and saying, 'They're all dead, oh, my God, she's taking it as a sign, she thinks I hate her,' " says Mark Hagopian of Stonegate Gardens in Lincoln.

You don't have to go that route. Instead of the usual globes of roses and baby's breath, florists this year are recommending arrangements that instead put the stress on fragrance, form, or color.

Hagopian's pick: tiny, heavily scented nosegays filled with hyacinths, freesias, and fragrant roses, rather than varieties bred for color and form.

"Smaller bouquets bring more romance to the day. There's a mystery to them," Hagopian explains. "Nosegays go back to Victorian times, when people didn't scream on the rooftops and weren't walking around half-naked, and there were rules of courtship.

"You think of Valentine's Day and you think of intimacy, and all of those things make me think of smaller bouquets that bring more romance to the day," he says. Besides, he adds, "The smaller, tighter, more romantic groupings are perfect for a bedside table."

At Hanaya Floral in Cambridge, Hiroko Takeshita incorporates minimalist contemporary Tokyo design, using clean, structural lines to make a strong impression. "The Valentine's Day rose is traditional, but in the Western style the meaning gets lost. The baby's breath is just not right," she says.

Her solution: a single red rose and a peony, standing out against dramatic foliage, "to emphasize the emotion."

"The look and smell of the combination is so romantic," and in Japanese stand for love, nobility, and joy forever, she says.

David Winston, co-owner of Winston Flowers in Boston, says this year's focus is on color and luxury.

"People are looking for color, and women want something interesting and fashionable, not the typical red rose arrangement," he says. His classically shaped "Rouge Garden" bouquet has roses and three varieties of orchids -- "romantic and elegant, not a casual variety of flowers," Winston says. "This seems more important."