Today is Valentine's Day, a day set aside for expressions of love and affection. The traditional western holiday has spread to many countries around the globe, despite some efforts by religious and cultural groups to fight its adoption. Valentine's Day spending in the U.S. this year is expected to reach nearly $15 billion -- $2 billion of it on flowers alone. Ninety percent of the flowers Americans will give to their sweethearts are imported, and nearly all of those imports originate in Colombia and Ecuador. Included in today's posting is an 18-photo series depicting the voyage of the roses from South American farm to florists worldwide. [37 photos]
A couple kisses during a flashmob organized by a local television station on the eve of Valentine's Day in the Russian city of Stavropol, on February 13, 2012. (Reuters/Eduard Korniyenko)
- A Separation
- Alaska
- Ali Hashisho
- Alice G. Walton
- An Ecuadorean police
- Anchorage
- Andrew Cohen
- Appeal-Democrat
- Australia
- Austria
- Bloomways
- Bobby Yip
- Bogota
- Cajica
- California
- California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco
- Cayambe
- Chia
- China
- Chris Kaufman
- Colombia
- Conor Friedersdorf
- Czech Republic
- Derek Thompson
- Ecuador
- Ecuador
- Eduard Korniyenko
- Efrem Lukatsky
- Emily Richmond
- Europe
- Facatativ?
- Facatativa
- February 14
- FedEx
- Fernando Vergara
- Florida
- Floristry
- G. Pascal Zachary
- Geography
- Germany
- Getty Images
- Getty Images
- Guillermo Granja
- GUILLERMO LEGARIA
- Hanoi
- Human behavior
- i-City
- International
- International Flower Auction Bangalore Ltd.
- Islamic Republic of Iran
- Jake Simpson
- James Fallows
- Jamiat-e-Ulama Pakistan
- Japan
- Jeff Chiu
- Jeff Taylor
- Joe Raedle
- John Vizcaino
- Johnny Brown
- Jordan Weissmann
- Jose Miguel Gomez
- Kanagawa
- Karachi
- Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg
- Kathleen McAuliffe
- Kiev
- Kuala Lumpur
- Lebanon
- Lee Jin-man
- Lela Mc Arthur
- Los Angeles
- Love
- Lucy Nicholson
- Malaysia
- Marc Ambinder
- Marion Nestle
- Massoud Hayoun
- Megan McArdle
- Miami
- Michael Hirsh
- Michal Kamaryt
- Minnesota Wild
- Nancy Scola
- Napatsawan Timhede
- New York City
- Nikola Tesla
- Online Dating Alice G. Walton How
- Pakistan
- Paul Sakuma
- Political geography
- Prachinburi
- Prague
- Quito
- Ralph Orlowski
- Rebecca J. Rosen
- Reuters
- Richard Drew
- Rizwan Tabassum
- Rob Griffith
- Ronald Brownstein
- Rose
- Saint Valentine
- Sandeep Nagra
- Sandra Tsing Loh
- Senegal
- Seoul
- Sidon
- South Korea
- Stavropol
- Stephanie Figarelle
- Stock photography
- Straelen
- Sydney
- Tehran
- Thailand
- Tiger Woods
- transportation
- U.S. Special Forces
- Ukraine
- United States
- University of Alaska
- Ups
- Valentine's Day
- Valentine's Day
- Valentine's Day
- Vienna
- Vietnam
- Virginia
- Vltava River
- William Timhede
- Winchester
- Woods Just Needs
- Yuba City