To send flowers is to show you care. Around the world, people send flowers as birthday gifts, Valentine’s Day gifts, or to celebrate significant life moments.
Flowers are a thoughtful gift that people (and particularly women) love to receive. Unfortunately, sending flowers comes with quite the environmental footprint.
First off there’s the growing of the flowers. Unless grown organically (and really, how many florists do you know source chemical-free flowers from certified organic flower growers?) then you can bet that the flowers have been overloaded with synthetic chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
Then there’s the transportation of the flowers. The flowers have to be transported from the flower farm to the markets and then to the florist shop, or sometimes it takes the direct route. If the flowers are to be delivered to a recipient, it has to ‘commute’ yet again to reach its final destination. The carbon footprint of worldwide flower deliveries is vast and can only really be minimised if the florist is using a carbon offset scheme or a carbon neutral delivery service. But let’s face it, how many florists really offset?
Finally there’s the waste. A bouquet of flowers are delivered in plastic wrapping, paper and sometimes a box which have to be thrown out or recycled. There’s also sticky tape and ribbon that need to be reused or discarded. In addition, the cut flowers will wilt, eventually die and leave disgusting water in a vase that has to be washed out. Plus, more often than not the dead flowers are thrown in the trash and sent to landfill.
Sending flowers is a thoughtful gesture there’s no doubt about that. And while they are beautiful and convey the right message, the price to pay – financially and environmentally – is high.
Which is why we’re loving Flowerling; a cool new app that allows you to affordably send and receive digital flower bouquets and single roses (“Flowerlings”) to anyone in the world, without any of the environmental impacts associated with sending physical flowers. It’s the zero-waste way of sending and receiving flowers, perfect for sustainability advocates and zero-waste lifestyle practitioners.
What’s more, Flowerling has partnered with non-profit reforestation organisation The Eden Projects so that for every Flowering sent, a tree is planted and the best part is, you get to see where your tree has been planted in the world because the app shows you!
And there’s a great selection of flowers to choose from. For chump change, you buy and send digital roses, dahlias, orchids and carnations. You have the option to send a single rose or send a bouquet or potted flowers. And you can buy vases to put your flowers in if you want.
When you receive flowers through the Flowering app, you also get to experience the joy of real flowers without the environmental impact, waste or effort of replacing smelly water. You can watch your Flowerling age and wilt over its eight-day lifespan (unless you decide to purchase food which extends its life). Your flowers are also held in a digital ‘greenhouse’ so that you can check in on them and water them each day.
How to send Flowerlings
It’s super easy to send digital flower bouquets and potted plants using Flowering. Here’s a quick visual guide to help you use the app:
Step 1.
Download the Flowerling app on iTunes and make sure to push notifications so you never miss a digital flower delivery or personal message.
Step 2.
Browse the shop and choose the flowers you want to send. There’s a wide selection of popular flowers to choose from. The Flowerling team are constantly adding flower varieties so that users can send the recipient their favourite flower.
Step 3.
Once you’ve selected the digital flower/s you want to send, you will need to make a purchase through iTunes. The cost of sending a flower is as little as $1.49 USD. The app prompts you to top up your account if you’ve run out of ‘coins’ for the Flowerling shop.
Step 4.
Once purchased, you can then add a ‘vase’ to put your digital flowers in, background image and a personalised note to the recipient. I decided to send my first bouquet of Flowerlings to my sister Jennilyn who has been going through a rough time and I was certain it would make her day. (Plus, we’re super close and living in separate states means I miss her that much more.)
Step 5.
Then all you need to do is ‘send’ the flowers to your loved one. You have a variety of digital delivery options to choose from. I chose to send these flowers via SMS because my sis is a millennial who has her phone with her at all times and I had a feeling she’d see the message right away.
And I was right. One look at the app and I could see that my sister had accepted her digital delivery of bouquet of flowers almost as soon as she received the SMS.
Not long afterwards I received a notification on Facebook to let me know that my sister had sent me some flowers. A beautiful Spring bouquet to add to my digital greenhouse. I adore the app, and I suspect that my convenience-seeking, budget-conscious sister is seeing the benefits of Flowerling too. Here’s to zero-waste affordable flowers!
Want to put a smile on a loved one’s face without costing the earth?
Download the FREE Flowerling app on iTunes here and send them a bouquet of digital flowers today.
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Flowerling. Specific product information is checked with the company. Eco Warrior Princess strives to work only with brands that meet our high ethical standards. For more information about our ad policies, click here.
