Perhaps people don&#x27;t like me much, but I buy the majority of my flowers for myself. 
This site looks terrible (I can&#x27;t find the report directly, just florists talking about it), but it&#x27;s taking its data from a major study done on the flower industry in 2005: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.aboutflowers.com&#x2F;about-the-flower-industry&#x2F;consumer-trends.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.aboutflowers.com&#x2F;about-the-flower-industry&#x2F;consum...</a>
Of people purchasing bouquets, a third of the purchases were for themselves. So yes, a majority are gifts, but that&#x27;s still a big market.<p>As far as why anyone would want to &quot;purchase locally&quot; (note: I live in Boston, think FarmGirl is overpriced, and have nothing to do with this company, but as a frequent flower purchaser, I can see the appeal of the concept) Purchasing flowers locally expand the type of flowers commonly and cheaply available, as counter-intuitive as it might seem. Roses are &quot;traditional&quot; on Valentine&#x27;s Day simply because they ship well. Really really well. Roses are practically indestructible, and can be grown in Kenya, go without water for a while and still look great when they&#x27;re rehydrated. Other flowers (Lisianthus, for example) don&#x27;t appreciate being tightly packed into boxes and living without&#x2F;with little water while they&#x27;re hanging out in the dark. Shipping delicate flowers raises the price dramatically, and if there&#x27;s an option to purchase them without that overhead, I&#x27;m certainly game.