Shoots and Leaves

‘‘Her vision has faded over 80 long years of admiring marigolds, jasmines and roses. They don’t excite her anymore. But now her face glows like a firefly every time I get her blooms from Thailand and Indonesia,’’ says Sen.

For most people, Rs 2,500 for a pocketful of posies would sound a tad frivolous. But for true-blue, floral mavens like Sen, loosening the purse strings for a handful of extraneous blossoms is a novel fetish. Says Pawan Gadia, vice-president of Ferns N Petals, ‘‘Every luxury must be paid for, and everything joyous is a luxury. Exotic flowers are no exception. Experience tells me that a true floral cognoscenti shall never weigh his fascination in terms of money.”

Gadia asserts that fresh cut-piece exotic flowers are finding a place in the daily lives of many affluent families, for whom the visual delight of the inflorescence matters more than its short lifespan or exorbitant price. “Spending a fortune on exotic flowers is not just a one-off activity. Those who indulge in it do so for their own gratification and satisfaction,’’ says Gadia.

And with the arrival of these connoisseurs, there’s been a surge in the demand for Casablanca Lilies, Fur Heliconias, Giant Proteas, Cymbidium Orchids and any other exotic blossoms. These exotic stems don’t come cheap: Rs 500 a stem if it’s the Straight Green or Fur Heliconia, Rs 400 for a stem of Giant Protea, Rs 350 for each stem of Cymbidium and Vanda Orchid and Rs 300 for just one head of the Casablanca Lily. And when put together into an arrangement, the tab’s anybody’s guess.

Nidhi Jain, 26, a floral aficionado from Delhi, spends magnanimously on Oriental Spider Orchid and Casablanca Lily combinations that cost up to Rs 10,000 a month. ‘‘These flowers are a visual delight. Does it make sense to ornament the house with such opulent frills? I’d say yes a hundred times, as the entire ambience and aura of the house changes remarkably,” says the enthusiast.

Sumeet, who works as a business executive at an MNC in the Capital, contributes an assortment of rare orchids, brassica and protea to his mother’s drawing room once a month. The gift costs him Rs 5,000. “You’ve got to see her squeal in joy,’’ he says. ‘‘She’s always asking me where I get these strange looking buds from. Sometimes she gets up in the middle of the night to ensure the orchids are not cluttered up,’’ says the 20-something.

However, Jalan, a Delhi-based businessman and diehard Amitabh Bachchan fan, beats all of them. Once a year he sends an arrangement of the choicest exotic flowers, worth Rs 75,000, to the Bollywood superstar, through Ferns N Petals, with a note that reads ‘‘To A.B, The Sarkar’’.

There’s a whole new breed of obsessive patrons among us.