If you want to go big this year for Valentine’s Day, you might get your sweetheart a whole rose bush for the garden instead of the standard bouquet. And, chances are the rose plant you buy was grown in Arizona.
Agriculture is huge business in the state, and as it breaks down, nursery and greenhouse crops brought in more than $300 million for growers a few years ago.
Break it down even more, and you can see how many rose plants were sold from Arizona alone.
Arizona Department of Agriculture officials say last year 18 million rose plants were shipped, with almost half of that in the first two months of 2016. So far this year, growers have already shipped 6 million rose plants.
And, Arizona-grown rosebushes account for almost three-quarters of the rose-plant market across the country.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The story has been updated to clarify that rosebushes account for almost three-quarters of the rose-plant market.
