When one hears the two magic words �The Philippines�, the mind is flooded by images of beaches littered with toned bodies in golden skin, a piece of jaunty music, good food, sports icons and exotic animals which can only be found in its virgin rain forests. But do you think about its flowers?

The Philippines is home to some of the most beautiful flowers in the world. The tropical climate might be too extreme for sensitive flowers such as roses so many professional growers choose to use greenhouses to control the weather. However, other flowers such as anthuriums, ginger, birds of paradise, heliconias and orchids are perfect for the tropical weather. These flowers can be cultivated easily in the hot and moist weather that is the trademark of The Philippines.

Flowers can be grown the traditional way, that is, in flowerbeds. The grower plants seeds in the soil and waits for the flowers to grow, all the while taking care of it with devoted patience. The grower protects the plants from pests both from the soil and out of it by using appropriate pesticides. Fertilizer is used to enrich the soil to ensure that the flowers are �fed� properly, other than being given water and right amount of sunlight everyday.

Since The Philippines is a tropical country and therefore prone to extreme and sudden changes in the weather, growing flowers traditionally involves a lot of risk. The grower may lose all of his or her crops to an abrupt spike in the temperature or a heavy downpour of rain. This is not practical since the time, labor, and capital lost can never be replaced.

That is why Philippine flower growers utilize greenhouses in farming their flowers for commercial sale and export. Greenhouses offer a controlled environment perfect for the flowers' optimum growth. The risk for pest invasion is drastically minimized as well, since the greenhouse is sealed. All the flowers are tended to more thoroughly in a greenhouse than in an exposed flower bed since all necessary conditions are maintained at less the cost, time, and manpower.

After harvesting, the flowers are delivered straight to the flower shops. These flower shops in turn offer flower delivery to their clients. Delivery is efficient and stress-free, which makes the flower shops competitive not only in the quality of their flowers but in the quality of service as well. In fact, delivery is not limited only within the Philippines; it also exports its flowers to the rest of the world. And why not? Their beauty is renowned and unique � only in The Philippines!