Mother’s Day is here, and business is booming at Taipei Flower Market
Mother’s Day is one of the biggest holidays of the year for florists. But customs around buying flowers are changing. It used to be that carnations were considered the only appropriate choice for Mother’s Day. But in recent years, that tradition has relaxed, as more and more people choose creative flower arrangements to give their moms. This year at Taipei Flower Market, there’s even a special flower art display. It features a pun on the Chinese word for “spend money” – which Chinese speakers will know sounds just like the word for “flower.”
This Sunday is Mother’s Day, and Taipei Flower Market is unusually bustling for a weekday, as buyers flock to get their bouquets.
Member of public
I’m a cram school teacher. I want to give the flowers to the children, to take home and give to their moms. Flowers are very expensive this year. I come and buy them every year.
A large bouquet of 20 carnations costs anywhere from NT$200 to NT$250. You can go for the classic red or pink, or a more unusual tone – purple, peach or variegated petals are all popular options.
Flower seller
The supply is quite stable this year. It’s usually young mothers getting the light pinks, and older mothers getting the reds. The most expensive are probably the bicolored flowers and the peach colors.
Hung Tzu-chieh
Taipei Flowers Auction Co.
This year, in 2023, Taipei Flower Market got in 125,000 bunches of carnations. In the first half of this year, there have not been any major natural disasters in the production region, which is Changhua. Our teacher of flower-arranging has used her creative skills to make this flower arrangement using fake bank bills. It’s a pun, and implies your mom has lots of “money to spend.”
This special exhibition is in pride of place in the market, showing off the Mother’s Day strategy. Bunches of carnations are arranged in heart shapes, and held together with imitation paper money. But some customers choose a different type of flower to express a special message.
Chen Hui-shan
Teacher of flower-arranging
The Lily of the Nile has a beautiful meaning too. Customers choose this one particularly if they have a lot of brothers and sisters, and they want to say “Mom, thank you for bringing us all up.”
Roses and balloon flowers are good for Mother’s Day, and some people go for dried flowers. Once upon a time, carnations were practically mandatory for the holiday, but now there are more and more ways to say “thanks, mom.”
2023-05-11
