Organic Bouquet

I recently had the opportunity to send flowers to someone I care about. Now, I don't usually send flowers. I don't get really excited about receiving them (I know! I am like one of those silly women who doesn't like chocolate!) so I usually choose something else to send. But this was part of a group effort and the group chose flowers, so I agreed, on one condition. I asked that if we were going to send flowers, we send an Organic Bouquet.

I first read about Organic Bouquet in the February issue of "O" magazine which made the excellent point that traditional growing methods for flowers usually include leeching lots of pesticides and herbicides into the soil and water, not to mention covering your beautiful gift in them before sending them to someone to enjoy in their home.

Organic Bouquet offers only flowers that are grown, well, organically (and sustainably). Which means that you can feel good about the gift you are giving in more ways than one. I love that they also offer charitable arrangements which give five percent back to a charity with their purchase. For our purchase, my group chose the Women for Women bouquet which arrived on the specified delivery date in a recycled glass vase ($13 more) and wowed the recipient with it's beauty.

You can also choose from a selection of California grown flowers which will presumably cut doubt on the carbon footprint of the flowers in their travel.

If flowers aren't your thing, choose from a selection of treats like fair-trade organic chocolate or these organic Peace cookies. Or choose wreath or a plant that will keep growing and giving back.

The point is, when you choose your gifts (or your special treats to yourself), do it mindfully. Think not only about how beautiful the item is, but how it contributed to the beauty of our planet.

Have you had any experience with "greener" flowers or gifts? Are there companies you would recommend over others? Have you ever had the pleasure of being the recipient of such a gift?